Medical Center figures chosen for international, statewide roles
Published on Monday, July 7, 2025
By: Gary Pettus, gpettus@umc.edu
Medical Center faculty and staff often are recognized regionally, nationally and internationally for their academic or medical achievements. These accolades place UMMC among health science centers worldwide.
Kyle set to lead global organization’s educational arm
Dr. Patrick Kyle, UMMC professor of pathology, has been elected president-elect of the Academy of the Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine.
The ADLM Academy is a “global scientific and medical professional organization dedicated to clinical laboratory science and its application to health care,” its website states. It is composed of over 500 fellows from across the world who serve as the educational arm of the ADLM.
Kyle’s one-year term as president-elect begins on August 1; his term as president will begin a year later.
“It will be an honor for me to lead such a premier group of medical laboratory scientists, the ADLM Academy, to publish relevant and life-changing materials in an effort to improve health care across the world,” Kyle said.
The ADLM Academy’s recent and upcoming publications include testing for Alzheimer’s biomarkers, coagulation testing, testing in fertility and reproduction, data analytics, markers for preterm delivery, laboratory test interferences, lipid and lipoprotein determination, toxicology testing, cervical cancer screening and more.
Kyle is director of the clinical chemistry, special chemistry and toxicology laboratories at UMMC. He is board certified as a clinical chemist, toxicological chemist and forensic toxicology specialist. He also teaches medical students, dental students and pathology residents.
An international speaker, Kyle has authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals. His research interests include pharmaceutical toxicity, analytical method development, laboratory management and emerging biomarkers of disease.
Kyle earned his BS in biology from Mississippi College before receiving his PhD in pharmacology/toxicology from UMMC in 2006.
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Gaughf serving foundation promoting college access
Dr. Natalie Gaughf, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, has been appointed to the board of the Woodward Hines Education Foundation.
The announcement was made by the Mississippi Higher Education Assistance Corporation and the WHEF, whose mission is to “expand equitable access to and completion of postsecondary credentials, certificates and degrees that lead to meaningful employment for more Mississippians,” its website states.
Gaughf is one of three new board members now serving the foundation in its efforts to increase college access and entry for Mississippians.
Gaughf, a licensed psychologist and board-certified clinical health psychologist, joined the Medical Center in 2002 and became a faculty member in 2003. She has served in a variety of other leadership and faculty roles, including professor of family medicine, professor of population health science, associate dean for student affairs for the School of Population Health, acting executive director of the Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute for the Elimination of Health Disparities, and director of the Office of Academic Support.
She has also served as the John D. Bower School of Population Health’s interim dean.
In 2002, she earned a PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi and completed her residency in clinical psychology at the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi. At UMMC, she completed a health psychology postdoctoral fellowship in primary care.