Class Act: An Academic Update

Good morning.  

Today, I’d like to update you on the tremendous progress of UMMC’s academic mission.   

When the Medical Center opened in 1955, it had one school: medicine. While all our mission areas are vital, when this institution sprang up on State Street seven decades ago, it was the realization of a vision to train physicians to take care of their fellow Mississippians. Shortly thereafter, the School of Nursing opened here and we never stopped growing. 

How this academic mission has grown. 

Today, we have six schools on campus with a total student enrollment of 2,513, as of fall 2025. Our student body represents 80 of Mississippi’s 82 counties, 39 states and many countries. The enrollment breakdown and deans: 

• Dentistry – 201 (Dr. Pia Chatterjee Kirk) 
• Graduate studies – 199 (Dr. Sydney Murphy) 
• Health related professions – 446 (Dr. Jay Garner) 
• Medicine – 657 (I am the SOM dean, with Dr. Loretta Jackson-Williams as vice dean) 
• Nursing – 961 (Dr. Tina Martin) 
• Population health – 49 (Dr. Thomas Dobbs) 

Our schools are vibrant and growing. There is a huge demand for our academic programs, a testament to their quality and to our faculty’s dedication and expertise. Led by Dr. Scott Rodgers, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, and the deans, our schools are working to ensure the Medical Center responds to Mississippi’s workforce needs as we train our future health care professionals. 

Here are just some of the ways our schools are answering the challenge: 

• School of Dentistry – The Doctor of Dental Medicine program, with 40 students, will expand in the fall to 42 to assist our Arkansas neighbors. The school will add two students from that state, which only recently opened its first dental school. Further expansion of the DMD class and the dental hygiene program – which has 20 students – is being considered and depends in great part on the school’s move to a new clinical building, which is under construction.  
• School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences: In the fall, SGSHS began training the first cohort of students enrolled in its new cancer biology track program, producing the next generation of leaders in oncology research and treatment. The program will include a course that covers such topics as cancer genetics, cancer biomarkers and therapeutics and much more. The cancer biology track in the PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology program opened in fall 2025. The grad school aims to enroll the first cohort of students in the PHD in Cancer Biology and Therapeutics in the fall of this year, pending IHL and SACSCOC approval. 
• School of Health Related Professions: SHRP will soon reduce the time it takes to put occupational therapists and physical therapists out in the field seeing patients. For the doctoral programs in OT and PT, admissions timelines have changed to allow students to apply during their junior year of undergraduate training. This means they would begin their OT or PT programs earlier, potentially completing their undergraduate degree requirements during their first year at UMMC and shave one year from their doctoral degree. The school will begin accepting applications in the summer of 2026, and classes should commence in summer 2027. 
• School of Medicine: With the opening of our new medical education building in the summer of 2017, the school was able to expand student enrollment (from a long-time class size of 100 students per year) and has continued to do so in a methodical manner. The entering class, now at 170, will jump to 175 starting fall 2026. It’s part of our commitment to get more doctors in hospitals and clinics in a state that continues facing a physician shortage. 
• School of Nursing: There’s a lot happening in what is, by enrollment, our largest school. In July, a ribbon-cutting celebrated the newly renovated classrooms and labs at the UMMC School of Nursing’s South Oxford Center. Here in Jackson, the new School of Nursing building is scheduled to be completed and in use around November. To further address the critical need for skilled nurses, the school developed a certified registered nurse anesthetist, CRNA, program and is planning to admit its first trainees in the fall, pending accreditation approval. Finally, the Accelerated BSN program is expanding on both campuses from 80 to 90 students at each site – beginning in January 2027 in Jackson, and in August 2027 in Oxford. 
• John D. Bower School of Population Health: Physicians and medical students alike have let Dr. Dobbs and his administrative team know of their interest in pursuing a public health degree. The school is responding with a new Master of Public Health Program with courses officially beginning this fall. Students enrolled in this dual degree program will continue on their course through medical school while adding MPH classes to the mix. Among their classmates will be some current Medical Center physicians who have signed up for the program. It’s commendable, and natural, that our students and physicians are drawn to population health studies, which will better prepare them for the important work of improving health outcomes of our patients here in Mississippi. 

What is listed above doesn’t even include the amazing work done in and through residency and fellowship programs in several of our schools. I will shine a deserving light on our residency programs in a future column. 

As you can see, our academic mission is thriving, and I want to thank the dedicated deans, faculty and administrative staff who make it so. Their contributions are going a long way to help us achieve A Healthier Mississippi.