Vicksburg Medical Foundation a steady supporter of medical education at UMMC

In the midst of soup lines, crop failures and other markers of Great Depression-era Mississippi, three Vicksburg doctors weathered the times to improve health care in the River City.

The men – Drs. William K. Purks, Willard H. Parsons and Dr. Isaac C. Knox Sr. – did so in 1934 by forming Vicksburg Hospital inside the city’s downtown historic district. The mission of their initial effort has evolved with market forces and technology, but the foundation that grew out of the facility has survived decades of change to help transform care in all of Mississippi.

One constant in recent decades has been funding medical education for aspiring doctors and nurses in the state – many of whom begin building their academic resume’ at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

“Vicksburg Medical Foundation has given more than $7 million in gifts to UMMC since 1983, mostly in the form of scholarships in medicine and nursing,” said Howell “Hal” Gage, retired banker and longtime former chairman of the group’s board of trustees.

Most esteemed among those efforts at UMMC is named for an organization co-founder. The William K. Purks, M.D. Merit Scholarship is awarded annually to students with outstanding undergraduate academic records. It covers tuition and cost of living expenses the first year, then renews for the remaining three years with good academic standing.

“The trustees felt that a large part of the foundation’s grants should go back to the medical field in some form or fashion,” Gage said. “The original trustees were medical people who were concerned about the quality of medical care. They also had foresight and were broad-minded about it, in that they wanted to improve health care both in Vicksburg and in the entire state of Mississippi.”

Purks, who died in 2001 at 95, and hospital co-founders donated the hospital to the foundation in 1956, then sold the facility in 1982. He also instructed coursework at the UMMC School of Medicine during the same span of time.

“It is the only full-ride scholarship that is offered in the School of Medicine to an incoming medical student,” said Dr. Desmondes Haynes, assistant dean for medical school admissions. “Each year the recipient is eternally grateful for this amazing opportunity, and the School of Medicine administration is profoundly thankful to be able to award this scholarship to an outstanding student each year.”

The foundation’s impact on medical education in Mississippi is immeasurable.

“We are grateful to the foundation for its steadfast support over many decades,” said Meredith Aldridge, executive director of development at UMMC. “The vision of its founders has come to life in ways that have impacted and will continue to impact Mississippi communities for generations. Through the foundation’s investment in medical education, the lives of individual students and entire communities have been transformed.”

The scholarship serves as a vital incentive to keep the state’s best students here and practice where some of the nation’s biggest health care needs exist.

“I was interviewing at medical schools around the country when I was awarded the scholarship,” said Dr. William Campbell, a Vicksburg native who grew up in the same neighborhood where Purks lived and received the scholarship the same year the doctor died. Today, Campbell is a cardiologist at UMMC who specializes in adult congenital cardiology and is program director for the adult congenital cardiology fellowship program.

“Being awarded the scholarship was certainly a driving factor in my staying here,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate to pursue my career at UMMC in an area that’s certainly underserved throughout the country. I’m proud to say Mississippi leads the way in adult congenital cardiology, as we have one of just a few comprehensive care centers in the field. Our two-year fellowship program was among the first seven such training programs in the nation when it was accredited in 2016. 

Along with the Purks scholarship, the foundation has also funded student aid for eligible students in the School of Nursing. Eleven students were awarded funds in 2026 that have allowed them to focus on studies rather than finances. 

“Previously, my tuition was coming from loans and things like that,” said Caitlyn Swinford, 23, a Biloxi native in the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program who received a half a semester’s tuition from this year’s award. “It’s helped me pay for about half a semester’s tuition, which has taken a lot of stress off my family’s shoulders. As with many other parents, mine don’t have the financial means to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for school.”

In May, Swinford lost her grandfather to cancer. Her mother was his primary caregiver for about two years and was unable to work during that time – which turned the scholarship’s timing into a godsend.

“Ironically, he fished for years at Eagle Lake near Vicksburg,” Swinford said. “So, it was such a blessing that the Lord made this scholarship opportunity at the right time.”

Vicksburg attorney Blake Teller joined the foundation board in 2022 as a member and succeeded Gage as chair in 2025.

“It’s already been a real honor and privilege to serve on the board with a group of people that has the interests of Mississippi at heart with regard to medical service,” Teller said. “These scholarships will build up the future of our medical field.”

The foundation has also contributed consistently to health education scholarships at Hinds Community College and Mississippi State University in Meridian. Its second century of service to funding the state’s most pressing health care needs is already focused on aspects such as mental health services and those for special needs children and adults.

“We are trying to affect quality of life across a broad area of needs in all our communities in Mississippi,” Teller said.