History of Pathology at UMMC
By: Dr. Robert E. Lewis, Emeritus Professor, Department of Pathology
The University of Mississippi School of Medicine was established on the Oxford, Mississippi, campus in 1903 as a two-year program. Students completed their third and fourth years of study at various other American medical schools. A School of Nursing was added in 1948. The Mississippi Legislature passed legislation in the early 1950's to construct the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS. It was to include a four-year School of Medicine teaching hospital and a School of Nursing. The faculty and students at Oxford were transferred to the Jackson campus, which opened in 1955.
Distinguished American physicians who have served as professors of pathology at our medical school since its inception in 1903 include such notable figures as Dr. Paul R. Cannon, who later served with distinction as chairman of the Department of Pathology at the University of Chicago; the renowned virologist Dr. Ernest W. Goodpasture, late chairman of the Department of Pathology and dean of the School of Medicine at Vanderbilt University; and Dr. James R. Dawson Jr., former chairman of the Department of Pathology at the University of Minnesota Medical School; and Dr. James Bell Bullitt, late chair of Pathology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Dr. Billy S. Guyton, an early dean of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, served as professor of pathology from 1915-20.
Dr. James Bell Bullitt, a graduate of Washington and Lee and the University of Virginia Medical School, was named the first professor of pathology by Dean Waller S. Leathers, MD, in 1903. Dr William V. Hare headed the Department of Pathology at Oxford in the late 1940's and early 1950's and from 1955-59 in Jackson. Originally, the Jackson based UMC Department of Pathology consisted of surgical pathology, cytopathology, and autopsy pathology. The Division of Immunopathology was added in 1974. The Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, was established by Dr. Warren Bell in 1955 as a separate administrative department, with Dr. Bell as chair. When Dr. Bell retired in 1988, the Clinical Laboratory became a division of the Department of Pathology.
Dr. Hare was succeeded in 1959 by Joel G. Brunson, MD, of the University of Minnesota. Dr. Brunson recruited the distinguished American pathologist and virologist, Dr. Ernest W. Goodpasture to joint his faculty. Although Dr. Goodpasture served for a relatively brief period (1959-1960), his influence on the department's research and teaching programs has been long lasting. The department's highest academic award for M-2 students is named in his honor. Dr. Brunson maintained an excellent pathology residency training program in which he was assisted by his erstwhile chief at Minnesota, Dr. James R. Dawson. Dr. Dawson served as a professor of Pathology at the University Medical Center from 1970-76. In 1971, Brunson and Gall co-edited their own textbook of pathology entitled, Concepts of Disease, published by the Macmillan Company.
Dr. Catherine Goetz succeeded Dr. Brunson as interim chair in 1977 until Dr. Robert M. O'Neal, former chairman of Pathology at Baylor and the University of Oklahoma Medical Schools was named chairperson in 1978. Dr. O'Neal expanded the service and residency programs in anatomic pathology for the next eight years. Service and stability were his guidelines. In 1987, Dr. ONeal was succeeded by Dr. Warren Johnson, first Pathology chair at St. Jude, Memphis, as interim chairman until the arrival of Dr. Sherman Bloom of George Washington University in 1988. Dr. Bloom successfully steered the department into the computer age and placed the service offerings on a firm fiscal basis. It was during his tenure that the number of faculty and size of the department increased substantially with the incorporation of the clinical laboratories into the department.
Dr. Bloom retired in 1999 and was succeeded by Dr. Michael Hughson, who had joined the faculty as professor and vice-chairman in 1997. Hughson was able to obtain extramural funding from the NIH and developed international collaborations in kidney research. Dr. Steven Bigler succeeded Dr. Hughson in 2004 and served through 201 1. Dr. Bigler guided the department through a period of significant administrative change involving faculty participation and in the creation of a new system for tenure and nontenure track career pathways. He was a strong supporter of resident training and faculty advancement. When Dr. Bigler stepped down, Dr. Jock Lewin served an interim chair.
Dr Janice Lage, professor and chair of Pathology at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, was selected as the next chairperson in 2012 and served through 2016. Under her leadership, the department developed its first dermatopathology service directed by Dr. Robert Brodell and established UMMC's first molecular diagnostic service. On her departure, Dr. Brodell served as interim chair through the end of 2017, while also chairing the Department of Dermatology.
Dr. Timothy Allen from the University of Texas in Galveston was recruited as the next chairperson in 2018. During the COVID pandemic, Dr. Allen was instrumental in streamlining the operational efficiency of the department, developing rapid COVID testing and transforming the general pathology reading schedule to a subspecialty-based system.
In 2022, Dr. Robert Brodell stepped down as Chair of Dermatology to accept the Chairmanship of Pathology. Dr. Brodell's focus has been on hiring top-notch fellowship trained subspecialist from around the United States and developing a high-functioning culture based on transparency, trust and team-based care. His vision is focused on the value of every member of the department from housekeepers to technicians to administrative staff and faculty.