When COVID-19 crept toward Mississippi in early 2020, Medical Center leaders and infectious diseases specialists were already preparing for a virus that would soon become a global pandemic. The Medical Center brought its full resources to bear as an early leader of the state’s COVID-19 response, contributing greatly to the body of knowledge about an elusive and menacing virus. And as it always will, UMMC continues to care for the sickest of the sick as the state’s only academic medical center and safety net hospital.

When urgent care is needed for a child’s illness or injury after 5 p.m., Children’s of Mississippi is there, offering urgent care at the UMMC Grants Ferry Clinic in Flowood. Open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, the clinic has expanded hours of care.

On Friday, scores of students from the School of Medicine learned where they will train in their chosen specialties during Match Day 2022. On the stage of Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, the seniors announced residency matches in locations from California to Massachusetts, and from Florida to Washington, D.C. It was a momentous occasion many were able to spend with the people who mean the most to them.

Dr. Mitzi Norris, who has led accreditation efforts at UMMC for 16 years, has received the SACSCOC Meritorious Service Award reserved for those who have gone above and beyond. She is only the sixth Mississippian to receive the honor.

Only a year-and-a-half on the job, Dr. Osman Athar has already made a name for himself at the Medical Center. He is an award-winning teacher in a field whose patients are often stained with reproach by others, including, at a time not so long ago, Athar himself.

Several interesting events are scheduled for the upcoming week at the Medical Center.

Medical Center leadership is proud to acknowledge those employees who will celebrate service anniversaries during the week of March 21 – March 27.