Peds endocrinologist, bioethics expert among new UMMC faculty

The Medical Center is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff:

Taolin Fang, M.D., Ph.D.

Fang

Dr. Taolin Fang, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor in physiology.

After receiving the M.D. from Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, China, in 2001, Fang had a general surgery residency from 2001-04 followed by an orthopedic surgery residency from 2004-07 at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University. While serving as an orthopedic surgeon at Zhongshan Hospital, Fang earned the Ph.D. in biomedical science (surgery) at the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, in 2012. Fang served as a research associate in the Division of Plastic Surgery at UMMC from 2011-14, before joining the Department of Physiology and Biophysics as a postdoctoral fellow at UMMC in 2014.

An editorial board member of the Annals of Plastic Surgery and the International Journal of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, Fang is a peer-reviewed journal referee for five professional publications and is the author or coauthor of 36 articles in peer-reviewed professional publications and three book chapters. Fang also has three granted patents on development of the antimicrobial materials.

Fang's current research interests include renal and cardiovascular physiology, role of autonomic nervous system, leptin and melanocortins in obesity-induced hypertension.

Patrick D. Hopkins, Ph.D.

Hopkins

Dr. Patrick D. Hopkins, a Millsaps College professor and affiliate faculty of the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, has joined the Medical Center faculty as a professor of psychiatry.

After receiving the B.A. in philosophy and psychology from the University of Mississippi in 1988, Hopkins worked as a research technician in a neuroanatomy laboratory, then went on to earn the M.A. in philosophy in 1993 and the Ph.D. in philosophy in 1996 at Washington University. A postdoctoral research fellow at Bowling Green State University from 1996-97, he had special training in a clinical ethics rotation from 1997-98 at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

A visiting assistant professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder from 1997-98, Hopkins served as an assistant professor at Ripon College from 1998-2000 before joining the Millsaps faculty in 2000 as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor there in 2004 and a professor in 2010.

Since 2005, Hopkins has served on the Institutional Review Board at UMMC and in 2014 was accepted to and attended a competitive neuroscience bootcamp at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Neuroscience and Society.

The author or coauthor of 26 major articles in peer-reviewed professional publications and the editor of three anthology textbooks, Hopkins has given more than 40 presentations nationwide. Former president of the Mississippi Philosophical Association, his areas of specialization include ethics, biomedical ethics, moral psychology and neuroscience, theoretical psychopathology and philosophy

Anju Sukumaran, M.B.B.S.

Dr. Anju Sukumaran, a pediatric endocrinologist, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of pediatrics.

After receiving the M.B.B.S. from Trichur Medical College, India, in 1998, Sukumaran served as a physician in India for eight years. She then had residency training in pediatrics from 2007-10 at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Elmhurst, New York, and a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology from 2010-13 at State University of New York at Buffalo, where she was chief fellow from 2012-13. Shen then joined Essentia Health and started a new pediatric endocrine department there in 2013.

An active member of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, the Endocrine Society and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, Sukumaran has authored two publications and two abstracts and has made several presentations internationally. Her research interests include adrenal insufficiency in critically ill children and the effects of Sphingosine 1-Phosphate on Lipolytic activity in Adipocytes.  

Harpreet Talwar, M.B.B.S.

Talwar

Dr. Harpreet Talwar, medical director of the Virginia Clay Forman Breast Care Center at Texas Harris Southwest Hospital, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of radiology and chief of breast imaging.

After receiving her medical degree from Christian Medical College, Punjab, India, in 2000, Talwar did a radiology residency at the University of Florida Health Science Center, Jacksonville, from 2005-09 and a breast imaging and breast intervention fellowship at the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, in 2010.

Talwar joined Radiology Associates of North Texas, Fort Worth, and has served at Texas Harris Southwest Hospital since 2011. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Radiology and a member of the American College of Radiology and the Society of Breast Imaging.