Dr. Stephen Helms Chosen for AOA for Exceptional Contributions to Teaching and Service at UMMC

There is no individual more deserving of induction into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society than Stephen Helms, MD. For 34 years, Dr. Helms was a model private dermatology practitioner in Warren, Ohio. But for the past eight years he committed himself to the life of teaching in the dermatology department at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). Dr. Helms threw himself completely into academics, writing 42 peer reviewed publications and 21 book chapters; serving as co-editor of a book; performing 332 invited lectures delivered locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally; and writing more than 150 reviews for the highest-impact journals. He also served on multiple committees of the American Society of Contact Dermatitis and the American Academy of Dermatology, where he was chair of the electronic medical records implementation task force, chair of the practice management operations committee, and chair of the teaching performance and recognition subcommittee of the annual meeting evaluation task force.

Dr. Helms is the editor of this newsletter and has served as a mentor to countless medical students and residents. He also is a leader in the dermatology department’s CME initiatives. He received the Q Award for Patient Safety in 2015 and the Dermatology Faculty Teaching Award in 2018. Finally, Dr. Helms was recently inducted into the American Dermatologic Association, a group comprised of fewer than 1,200 dermatology leaders since its inception in 1876.