Faculty members awarded honor named for medical school legend
Published on Monday, June 30, 2025
By: Gary Pettus, gpettus@umc.edu
Photos By: Jay Ferchaud/ UMMC Communications
Five accomplished faculty members at the University of Mississippi Medical Center have received an honor named for a legendary leader who helped secure the future of the School of Medicine.
Considered one of the most prestigious tributes awarded at UMMC, the Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professorships recognized top scholars on the faculty during a ceremony Tuesday.
Guyton, the medical school dean during the economic devastation of the Great Depression, ensured that the institution survived when it was a two-year program in Oxford and helped it develop into today’s four-year medical school in Jackson. When the new school and hospital opened in 1955, he was honored with the title dean emeritus.
His legacy is celebrated at UMMC by the awarding of a medallion that acknowledges each recipient’s scholarship and serves as an inducement for them to continue their academic work here.
“We are honored to celebrate the remarkable contributions of Dr. Guyton, while also recognizing the exceptional achievements of five of our esteemed current leaders,” said Dr. Natalie Gaughf, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs.
The professorships are awarded every five years. For a list of past honorees, go here. The 2025-2030 Guyton Professors are:
Dr. Michael Garrett, professor and chair, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
Garrett, who joined the UMMC faculty in 2010, is the founding director of the UMMC Molecular and Genomics Core Facility and director of the Office of Research Cores and Infrastructure.
He has held faculty appointments at such institutions the Medical College of Ohio, University of Toledo-Health Sciences Campus, and Medical College of Wisconsin. He earned his PhD in molecular basis of disease in 2006 at the University of Toledo-College of Medicine.
Garrett is a researcher in the field of genetic basis of complex traits, including hypertension and several forms of renal disease as well as applications of genomic technology.
Dr. Babbette LaMarca, professor and chair, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
LaMarca is a leader in the field of preeclampsia and pregnancy immunology research and has made pioneering research contributions in pregnancy hypertension.
Known as an exceptional mentor in the research laboratory, she is the recipient of the A. Clifford Barger Underrepresented Minority Mentorship Award from the American Physiological Society, the highest award the society provides for mentorship.
She has also received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the UMMC School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.
LaMarca received her PhD in microbiology and immunology from UMMC in 2003. In 2005, she completed a fellowship in the UMMC Department of Physiology and Biophysics.
Dr. Gailen D. Marshall Jr., professor of medicine, vice chair of research, Department of Medicine; R. Faser Triplett Sr. MD Chair in Allergy and Immunology
Marshall, who joined the Medical Center in 2004, has served as the medical director of UMMC’s Clinical Research Support Program and executive director of the Mississippi Clinical Research and Trials Center.
He served as chair of UMMC’s Institutional Review Board 2 for nearly a decade. A highly respected leader in the field of allergy and immunology, he has served a 15-year term as editor-in-chief for the journal, Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Recently, he served as president of the Southern Society of Clinical Investigation.
Marshall earned his PhD in immunology and his medical degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He did internal medicine training at the University of Iowa and completed his residency and allergy-immunology fellowship at the University of Tennessee at Memphis.
Dr. David E. Stec, professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Stec is the director of the Transgenic Core and co-director of the Molecular Core in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics.
His research has focused on several major areas that have important implications for cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic diseases in humans. He serves as the course director for multiple advanced level physiology graduate courses, and consistently earns excellent evaluations for his teaching.
He is known as an outstanding researcher and educator and has made extraordinary service contributions to UMMC and to the international scientific community.
He earned his PhD in physiology from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and received postdoctoral training in molecular genetics at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
Dr. Lei Zhang, professor, associate dean for research and scholarship, School of Nursing, Harriet G. Williamson Endowed Chair for Population Health Nursing
Zhang focuses his research on data and research support to maternal and child health, oral health, chronic disease and tobacco control programs.
He received the Lifetime Service Award from the American Public Health Association/Applied Public Health Statistics Section, and he was honored with the Alton B. Cobb Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mississippi Public Health Association for demonstrating a long-standing commitment to advancing nursing, medical and public health research in the state.
Zhang, who earned a PhD in biostatistics at UMMC, is the former director and chief research biostatistician in the Office of Health Data and Research at the Mississippi State Department of Health.