SHRP recognizes Alumnus of the Year, Early Career Achievement award winners
Published on Monday, May 12, 2025
By: Danny Barrett Jr., dlbarrett@umc.edu
Photos By: Joe Ellis/UMMC Communications
The School of Health Related Professions has named Dr. Kristi Moore as its 2025 Alumnus of the Year and Dr. Luke Bynum as its Early Career Achievement Award winner.
It’s difficult to avoid catching some of that former cheerleader energy Moore exudes when she remembers starting out working in health care fresh out of community college.
“It was incredible to take an X-ray and actually see inside the human body,” Moore shared. “I captured the image that the radiologist interpreted to make a diagnosis, which was then sent to the ordering physician. In that moment, I realized – I was just one piece of a much larger puzzle, playing a vital role in the patient’s journey toward healing.”
The same kind of teamwork that kept her old cheer squad at Holmes Community College so coordinated has carried over to a teaching career she says is inspired by the people who once taught her.
“I was encouraged by kind, uplifting mentors who truly cared for their students,” she said. “That same culture lives on in our department today. We want our students to know they’re supported—that we’re fully invested in their growth, and we ask for their full commitment in return. When they graduate, they’ll be equipped with the knowledge and confidence they need to become capable, compassionate radiologic technologists.”
She was “absolutely shocked” to be named 2025 SHRP Alumnus of the Year despite a resume’ that’s racked up quite a list of accomplishments in a span of time she feels has simply flown by. She’s won two technologist of the year awards from the Mississippi Society of Radiologic Technologists, in 2010 and 2015, and two major distinguished author awards from the American Society of Radiologic Technologists, in 2021 and 2022. She was also recognized as the most effective radiologic sciences educator in the U.S. by the medical imaging industry publication AuntMinnie.
“One of the great things about our profession is the variety of disciplines you can explore,” she said. “I discovered my passion in CT – it’s fast-paced, and every patient brings a new challenge. While we may not spend as much time with patients as nurses do, we still have the power to make a meaningful difference in their lives.”
Moore, of Madison, was born in Vicksburg and returned to Mississippi when she was in third grade, to the Benton community in Yazoo County, after her family lived in Oklahoma briefly. She was valedictorian at Benton Academy and had a vision for herself in health care, however fuzzy a blur it was at the time.
“I didn’t have the confidence in myself coming out of high school. And at the time, I didn’t want to go to school that long,” she said. She cleaned houses to help her parents with college expenses while at Holmes, including that of her cheer coach and the school’s choir director.
Along with some friends, she job-shadowed Dr. Mike Ketchum at King’s Daughters hospital in Yazoo City. “He was the one who sparked my passion for this profession. His enthusiasm, the way he taught, and everything he shared with us – it was contagious. I fell in love with the field because of him.” Ketchum would later join her on the RS faculty at UMMC, where he taught for 21 years before retiring in 2024.
At the time, the radiologic technology and computed tomography programs at UMMC were certificate programs under the School of Medicine. “It was something my parents could afford—tuition was around $212 a year, which meant a lot to me. They were starting a new business and already helping my older sister through college, so I didn’t want to add to their financial burden or take on a mountain of student debt. I quickly fell in love with the faculty and how welcoming everyone was. That was back in 1999—and I’ve been here ever since.”
She completed both certificates in a little more than two years, then earned a bachelor’s in health sciences from UMMC in 2005, while working full-time as faculty in the UMMC Radiologic Technology program. She began work as an assistant professor in 2009 when the program fully transitioned to a baccalaureate program of study. By 2013, she had earned master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical health sciences. In 2015, she became chair of the Department of Radiologic Sciences, which today includes the radiologic sciences traditional and advanced standing baccalaureate programs and master’s programs in magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine technology.
She represents something of a learning tree for the department, as she’s taught six of her seven current colleagues whose experience teaching alongside her totals more than 54 years.
“I was her student in 2004 and by 2013, I began teaching with her,” said Dr. Asher Street Beam, associate professor in the department and clinical coordinator in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging program. “I’ve seen her grow as a professional and as an educator. She sets the bar high for students and faculty, which has led to our department being recognized both locally and nationally.”
Where does the energy come from to teach more than 700 radiologic sciences students in 22 years? She can only credit the spark generated by her teammates, just like the old days cheering in community college.
"Honestly, it’s all about my team. I could never have done this alone. Teaching alongside incredible colleagues has been a privilege – it’s their support, passion and dedication that made everything possible."
Early Career Achievement Award
It would be fair to say Bynum grew up in a hospital – not as a patient, but following his physical therapist dad around as he did daily rounds.
“My dad was a PT for 43 years, mainly at Wayne General Hospital in Waynesboro where we lived,” Bynum said. “He always had the lab coat on and smelled like the hospital, where I loved going to visit him. I’d sit at the desk in his office and pretend to be a doctor.”
Both the scents and sights of the medical environment clinched a health care life for him.
“I’d see patients walk into the physical therapy clinic hobbling around on a walker after a car wreck or some other injury. Three months later, they’d be working out in the wellness center just nearby the clinic. Seeing all of it just really piqued my interest in eventually doing physical therapy as a career.”
Bynum, 40, of Tupelo, has built on that PT pedigree in ways his father might not have ever foreseen, thanks to new innovations. He earned his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from UMMC in 2010 while continuing service in both the Army Reserves and the Navy Reserve Medical Service Corps until retiring in 2024.
A board-certified clinical specialist in orthopaedic physical therapy, he is also trained in pelvic floor physical therapy by the Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute and is founder and lead instructor in Mississippi for United Dry Needling Education.
These days, he’s in constant motion working to help patients recover from all manner of health situations. He’s on staff at Rebound Physical Therapy & Pelvic Health in Tupelo and is a traveling educator, instructing fellow PTs along the way.
“I go all over the place,” he said. “I work with people from Indiana to Idaho, and everyone in between, including Jackson. My patient could be someone who hurts a knee, and they want to start back running. It can also be someone who’s had their prostate removed after having cancer. It’s about helping them not be incontinent anymore after surgery.”
Bynum estimates he’s trained more than a thousand PT specialists nationwide in dry needling over the past seven years since launching his company. The treatment involves inserting needles without anything in the vials into muscles to decrease pain and improve function.
“We find painful or tender spots within a muscle and we stick a needle a little deeper into the muscle than what an acupuncturist would do,” he said. “Their work is more on the surface of the skin, but we go deeper into the muscle to decrease tension for people with musculoskeletal pain.”
The miles he racks up on the road and in the air is a routine borne of the time management it takes to earn credentials in PT in the first place, he said.
“It was hard,” he said. “There was nothing easy about spending three years getting a doctorate. But, it’s not supposed to be easy. But for me, though, it was always comfortable. UMMC felt like a second home to me. When I walk in those doors at SHRP to guest lecture, I feel that sense of ‘Ahhh, never left!’”
Dr. Felix Adah, in his 26th year on the PT faculty, is the last instructor left on staff from Bynum’s time as a student and makes his classes available for Bynum’s guest lectures.
“I’m not surprised to see him training students and physical therapists across the country, particularly in the emerging field of ultrasound for diagnosis,” Adah said. “He’s setting a remarkable standard and is making a profound impact each one of us should emulate.”
Interestingly, the first stop on Bynum’s road to teaching and practicing came as a student in Adah’s classroom.
“He was about to explain something having to do with ultrasound to the class, but just walked up to me with the dry-erase marker and said, ‘Here, you explain this.’ I was like, ‘Oh….ok!’” And I just stood up and explained what he wanted me to. What’s funny is diagnostic ultrasound is exactly what I teach now when I’m traveling around the country. I always look for him and give him a big hug when I’m there to speak to a class. He was a good mentor for me when I was student.”
His best advice to aspiring PTs is to first embrace the grind, then own it with everything they have.
“I encourage them to treat their time in school like a full-time job,” he said. “They should expect to work 8 to 5 at that job, then go to the library and study so you can enjoy your weekends. If you do that, you’ll never be stressed out before tests because you’ll always be ready for them. It’s like the other fish said in Finding Nemo – just keep swimming!”