Anesthesiologist, periodontist, internist join UMMC faculty

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

Curtis P. Caskey, D.M.D.

Caskey

Dr. Curtis P. Caskey, a periodontist in private practice, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of periodontics and preventive sciences in the School of Dentistry.

After receiving his B.A. in biology from the University of Mississippi in 2006, Caskey earned his D.M.D. at UMMC in 2010. He had postgraduate training from 2010-13 at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, where he received his certificate in periodontics in June 2013. Since 2013 he has been a partner at Mississippi Periodontics and Implants in Ridgeland.

A Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology, Caskey is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Dental Association, American Board of Periodontology, the American Academy of Periodontology and the Mississippi Dental Association. He also serves as president of the Jackson Dental Society.

Caskey's research interests include the effects of gender and hormones on resorption of alveolar bone in rats with periapical abscesses and treatment of periodontal intrabony defects using plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF).

Vanetta Levesque, M.D.

Levesque

Dr. Vanetta Levesque, a recent cardiothoracic anesthesiology fellow at Duke University Medical Center, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of anesthesiology.

After receiving her M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Levesque had a postdoctoral research fellowship from 2006-10 at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard, Boston; an anesthesiology residency from 2011-14 at Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York; and a cardiothoracic anesthesiology fellowship from 2014-15 at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.

She is the author or coauthor of an article in the American Journal of Transplantation, a peer-reviewed professional publication, one book chapter in Trauma Anesthesia, second edition, and several poster presentation displayed at scientific meetings nationwide.

Max R. Lopez, M.D.

Lopez

Dr. Max R. Lopez, a recent internal medicine resident at the University of Vermont Medical Center, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of medicine.

After receiving his B.A. in medical sciences in 2009 from Boston (Massachusetts) University as part of a seven-year accelerated combined B.A./M.D. program, Lopez earned his M.D. at Boston University Medical School in 2012. He then had residency training in internal medicine at the University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington, from 2012-15.

An active member of the American Medical Association, Lopez has given numerous conference and medical education presentations. His research interests include quality improvement initiatives and residents' attitudes toward the transition of care of patients from inpatient to outpatient settings.