Ceremony celebrates physicians whose work ‘shines a light everywhere’
Published on Monday, July 28, 2025
By: Gary Pettus, gpettus@umc.edu
Photos By: Jay Ferchaud/ UMMC Communications
A slate of Medical Center luminaries was saluted last week for their ability to move mountains – including one who has actually climbed some.
The event was Friday’s annual University of Mississippi Medical Center Medical Alumni Awards Dinner. It featured the presentation of the Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award, which has, since 2010, honored graduates for their prowess in research, education, clinical care, health service administration or public/civic duties.
Since 2012, the alumni chapter Hall of Fame awards have acknowledged current or former faculty members for their legacies.
The Early Career Achievement commendation highlights an “accomplished young alumna/alumnus who has made outstanding contributions to the health care field within 15 years of receiving their medical degree.”
“Tonight, we are going to celebrate some outstanding, extraordinary leaders and physicians whose work truly shines a light everywhere so positive on the school, on the Medical Center and on the state of Mississippi,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, in her welcoming remarks.
“You are all an inspiration to us.”
Also attending were several members from the medical school class of 1975. Among the “Golden Graduates” who received medallions recognizing the 50th anniversary of their graduation was Dr. Dan Jones, former vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine and University of Mississippi chancellor.
“We are a group who are grateful for the medical education we received,” Jones said. “We know now … that we were fortunate to be students in a great medical school.”
Student Alumni Representatives(STARS) from the School of Medicine introduced the awardees.
2025 Distinguished Medical Alumnus
DR. TIMOTHY E. FOLSE of Germantown, a family medicine physician and 1985 graduate of the UMMC School of Medicine, is clinical director of the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Team of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, the world’s most comprehensive study of childhood and adolescent cancer survivors.
Folse, who practiced family medicine Memphis and Collierville, Tennessee, for 20 years before joining St. Jude, completed residency programs in family medicine at UMMC’s McWillie Clinic and Baptist Hospital, and the University of Tennessee-Memphis/St. Francis Hospital.
At St. Jude, Folse oversees survivors’ clinical visits; educates survivors and their families as they transition to local care; and confers with primary care providers about clinical findings and patients’ long-term treatment-related.
Folse has been a member of the UMMC Medical School Alumnus Board, serving as president in 2017.
Among those who influenced his life and career was his father, who was also a physician. Folse recalled watching his father go through his bills in his office and how he would strike through the amount for certain patients “because he knew they wouldn’t be able to pay.”
As the Distinguished Medical Alumnus, Folse said, ““I don’t feel distinguished, just blessed beyond comprehension … .”
2025 Early Career Achievement Honoree
DR. JAMES DUSTIN GENTRY of Louisville, a 2011 graduate of the UMMC School of Medicine, serves as medical director for Quality Hospice and the Louisville Healthcare Nursing Home.
The family medicine physician, who holds an MBA, is also a clinical leader at Winston Medical Center in Louisville.
After completing his residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center Northeast, Gentry returned to Mississippi to pursue his commitment to rural medicine. He provides care to patients in the hospital, clinic, nursing home, hospice and emergency department.
In 2021, the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians named him New Physician of the Year – presented to an outstanding physician who completed residency within the last seven years.
As a member of the MAFP, Gentry has served on the organization’s board of directors and its Advocacy Committee. He has also served as a Mississippi representative to the American Academy of Family Physicians Congress of Delegates, a member of the Winston County Board of Supervisors’ COVID-19 Pandemic Task Force and the Hospice Subcommittee for the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure.
“I want to thank God for allowing me to serve in this noble profession that we all share,” Gentry said.
Recalling his childhood, he added: “The other parents would kind of kid my mother and dad and say, ‘just pick your battles.’ And, bless my mother’s heart, she picked every one of them. I needed that and I appreciate it.”
2025 Medical Hall of Fame Inductees
DR. SHARON P. DOUGLAS of Madison, a 1986 graduate of the UMMC School of Medicine, worked 33 years for the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center, serving as a pulmonologist and associate chief of staff education.
“My veteran patients and trainees did so much more for me in my life than I ever did for them,” Douglas said in her remarks.
While at the VA, the Jackson native became a UMMC professor of medicine and associate dean for VA Education.
Douglas, who completed her internal medicine residency and a fellowship in pulmonary disease and critical care medicine at UMMC, also earned certification in health-care ethics from the University of Washington.
For her work with veterans, she received such honors as the Chief of Staff Award. She also received the VA Secretary’s Hero Award for her efforts to aid VA patients in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She was also the recipient of the 2009 William A. Nelson Award for Excellence in VHA Healthcare Ethics.
At UMMC, she taught ethics and pulmonary medicine. Medical students chose her as an All-Star Teacher in 2000, 2002 and 2005. She also received the Golden Apple Award, an American Medical Student Association Award (2000), as well as the Alpha Omega Alpha Teacher of the Year Award in 2010. She is a member of the Carl G. Evers, MD, Society Teaching Hall of Fame.
Douglas has served on Veterans’ Health Administration’s National Ethics Committee, the Palliative Care and End of Life Network Committee for the American College of Chest Physicians, which honored her as a fellow, and more.
She was a member of the American Medical Association’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs and has served on the AMA’s Council on Medical Education and the National Board of Medical Examiners Governing Council.
Douglas is on Mississippi’s Governing Council for the American College of Physicians and works for the Jackson Leadership Foundation, an inner-city nonprofit in Jackson.
DR. D. STANLEY HARTNESS of Jackson, a 1968 graduate of the UMMC School of Medicine, practiced family medicine for 40 years in his hometown of Kosciusko, where he made his mark in the community.
After completing his internship at UMMC, Hartness returned to Kosciusko, where he delivered babies, provided sports physicals, served as a family medicine preceptor, cared for nursing home patients and served as an emergency room physician. Oprah Winfrey’s grandmother was his most famous patient.
Hartness served as president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, which awarded him its Community Service Award in 1998 and which he also served as associate editor of the Journal of the MSMA for 22 years. He was president of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians and a finalist for American Academy Family Physician of the Year.
In Kosciusko, he became a charter member and served as president of HOPE (Helpers of Public Education), chair of the March of Dimes and United Way drive, and chair of the 100th Anniversary Attala County Courthouse celebration. He led a drive to erect the statue of the town’s namesake, Thaddeus Kosciuszko.
In 2012, Hartness relocated to Jackson, where he worked at Baptist Northtown and Premier Patient First Clinics. He continues his involvement in Social Security disability exams, PERS Disability exams and as a hospice medical director.
Harness also serves as chair of the Information and Quality Healthcare board and is a member of the Mississippi Medicaid Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee.
In accepting his award, Hartness said, “I offer my biggest thanks to my lovely wife, Beth, who has been the perfect wife for a doctor. Even though her mother told her, ‘Don’t marry a doctor.’”
DR. G. RODNEY MEEKS of Flowood, UMMC professor emeritus of obstetrics-gynecology, built a distinguished 35-year career at the Medical Center following his graduation from the UMMC School of Medicine in 1974.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma, native completed his residency at the University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital in New York in 1978 before joining the Medical Center faculty, eventually becoming director of the Division of Gynecology and the Winfred L. Wiser Chair of Gynecologic Surgery, named for his mentor, a renowned pelvic surgeon.
Meeks helped train more than 180 OB-GYN residents and mentored 21 students in the Student Summer Research program. Of his 100-plus scientific articles, eight reaped national honors.
In 2003, he was elected president of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons and later was recognized as a SGS Distinguished Surgeon.
In 2020, the Mississippi Section of the American College (now “Congress”) of Obstetricians and Gynecologists named him a Mississippi Legend in OB-GYN. Meeks, who specialized in pelvic-floor reconstruction, also earned a Distinguished Surgeon of the Year accolade from the Society of Gynecological Surgeons.
From the ACOG, Meeks received the Continuing Professional Development Award and, from the American Medical Association, the Physician’s Recognition Award.
In 2023, UMMC announced the Drs. G. Rodney and Sara M. Meeks Endowed Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology in honor of Meeks and his wife, a retired pediatrician.
Like many of his fellow honorees, Meeks recognized his mentors and introduced his family, thanking them.
Unlike any other honoree, he said, “After a most generous introduction, there’s nothing much left to say about myself except I don’t wear pajamas.”
DR. CHARLES S. O’MARA of Ridgeland, UMMC professor emeritus of surgery, is an acclaimed vascular surgeon who also distinguished himself at the Medical Center as a faculty member and clinical leader.
A Jackson native, O’Mara earned his medical degree at Tulane School of Medicine in 1973 and completed his surgical residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore followed by a vascular surgery fellowship at Northwestern University in Chicago.
He joined Johns Hopkins as attending surgeon and assistant professor for two years before returning to Jackson to practice vascular surgery for 25 years. He then joined Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, serving as chief of surgery, president of the medical staff and member of the hospital’s board.
At Baptist, he established the area’s first accredited non-invasive vascular laboratory and served for 30 years as its medical director. While he practiced there, MBMC received accolades for the quality of its vascular surgery. For years, O’Mara hosted surgical residents on rotations from UMMC.
After earning an MBA, he joined the full-time faculty at UMMC in 2013 as professor of surgery and advisor to the vice chancellor before serving as associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs until his retirement in 2021.
O’Mara is a member of a variety of leading professional organizations and is credited with over 60 scientific publications.
He has scaled the heights elsewhere as well, having climbed Mount Rainier and Mount Kilimanjaro.
O’Mara, who followed Meeks on the podium, said, “I will not be revealing what I sleep in.”
He added: “My 7½ years at UMMC were especially rewarding and I thank Drs. Jimmy Keeton [former vice chancellor] and LouAnn Woodward – both superstars if not rock stars and for the opportunities they allowed me to have during those years at UMMC.”
DR. ANTHONY B. PETRO of Jackson is a 1969 graduate of medical school at UMMC, where he was taught by some of the brightest lights to grace the Medical Center before achieving prominence as a surgeon in his own right.
“I don’t remember a time when I did not want to be a physician,” Petro said. “My first merit badge was First Aid … .”
“I am so grateful to this medical school. Three generations of my family have come through this medical school.”
A Leland native who attended Mississippi State University on a football scholarship, he trained as a medical student under world-famous physiologist Dr. Arthur Guyton and as a general surgical resident under organ transplant legends Dr. James Hardy and Dr. Seshadri Raju, as well as renowned faculty members and Medical Center leaders Dr. Gus Neely, Dr. William Barnett and Dr. Norman Nelson. Petro authored a chapter in Hardy’s textbook, Critical Surgical Illness.
After his post-graduate training, which included a two-year internal medicine residency at Vanderbilt University, he served as attending surgeon at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi.
He returned to Jackson in 1977 to practice and serve tenures as chief of surgery at St. Dominic Hospital and Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, while also maintaining a relationship with UMMC, lecturing in UMMC-sponsored surgical forums.
In 2021, the year he retired, he received the Dr. Fred Rushton Facility Teaching Award from the UMMC Department of Surgery.
GOLDEN GRADUATES: Members of the Class of 1975
Dr. William Arnett
Dr. Bill Ashford
Dr. John Drake
Dr. David Gandy
Dr. James Hagan
Dr. Jordan Hankins
Dr. Merrill Hicks
Dr. Bill Jackson
Dr. Ruby Joe
Dr. Dan Jones (not pictured)
Dr. Paul Kosko
Dr. Mary Fennell Lyles
Dr. Ben Moore
Dr. Mary Pace
Dr. Samuel Pace
Dr. Paul Parker
Dr. Michael Posey
Dr. Charles Robertson (unable to attend)
Dr. Sue Simmons
Dr. Curtis Whittington
STUDENT ALUMNI REPRESENTATIVES (STARS)
Abby Amos
Chloe Coulter
Piper Lind
DeArrius “Dee” Rhymes
Beau Rimmer
Haley Rooks
Josuf Turnipseed