New faculty join UMMC academic ranks
Published on Monday, July 21, 2025
Medical Center leadership is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff.
Jennifer Caldwell
Jennifer Caldwell, recently the director of nursing for the women and children service line at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor of nursing in the School of Nursing.
Caldwell, a board certified family nurse practitioner, earned her BSN and, in 2012, her MSN from Mississippi University for Women in Columbus.
Over the years, she has also served as a staff RN for pediatrics and postpartum and as a part-time staff RN for labor and delivery at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi in Oxford; a member of the adjunct clinical staff at the Tupelo campus of Itawamba Community College; and, at NMMC, as a staff RN and clinical educator in labor and delivery, nurse practitioner in the Women’s Hospital OB Receiving Department and NP for Women’s Hospital OB Outpatient Testing.
Caldwell has been recognized several times for her achievements as an educator and clinician. At NMMC, she participated in a number of projects and presentations. She is a member of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses; an educational affiliate member of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; and a member of the Mississippi Nurses Association.
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Dr. Sarah Caitlin Nelin
Dr. Sarah Caitlin Nelin, recently a neonatologist and ECMO instructor at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of pediatrics-neonatology in the School of Medicine.
Nelin, who is board certified in general pediatrics, received her medical degree in 2015 from the University of Toledo College of Medicine in Ohio and completed her pediatric residency at San Antonio Military Medical Center in Texas. She then completed a three-year neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at UMMC before joining the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, as a staff neonatologist.
Nelin, who served for more than eight years in the U.S. Air Force, worked as a pediatrician for children of military personnel in Anchorage, Alaska, from 2018-2021; with a disaster response medical training mission in Guam in February 2020; and as part of a humanitarian mission providing free medical care to patients on the island of Kodiak, Alaska, in May 2021.
Throughout her career, she has received a number of honors and awards for her scholarship and military service, including the Air Force Achievement Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal and National Defense Service Medal.
She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Dr. Mark W. Rushing
Dr. Mark W. Rushing, recently a pediatric cardiology fellow at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of pediatrics-cardiology.
A board-certified pediatrician, Rushing received his medical degree in 2019 from the UMMC School of Medicine and completed his pediatrics residency at UTHSC, where he served as pediatric cardiology chief fellow. Previously, he worked as an emergency room technician at King’s Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven.
Rushing has received several honors and awards for academic achievement, including induction into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. A member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, he is the co-author of a number of research publications and has participated in several scientific presentations.