Faculty and staff achievements

The School of Nursing is proud to highlight faculty and staff achievements since the last Vital Signs issue. 

Zhang awarded $1.38 million award from NIH

Dr. Lei Zhang, professor and associate dean for research and scholarship, was awarded with a $1.38 million award from the National Institutes of Health for his project, "A Proposal to Establish the Mississippi Violence Injury Prevention (VIP) Program." Congratulations Dr. Zhang and thank you for continuing to be a driving force for nursing research!

Dean Sanford publishes an article with SEC Deans

Dr. Julie Sanford, dean and professor, co-authored an article with her Southeastern Conference counterparts at the conference's institutions of nursing. The article published in the Journal of Professional Nursing was titled "From crisis management to multi-level interinstitutional partnerships: Development of the southeastern conference deans nursing coalition." The coalition was formed during the COVID-19 pandemic to collaboratively address challenges nursing education was facing. To read more, visit https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2023.06.002.

Holt selected for the ELAN Leadership Development program

Congratulations to Dr. Derek Holt, assistant professor and director of family nurse practitioner track, was recently selected to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Elevating Leaders in Academic Nursing (ELAN) Leadership Development program. ELAN is a program designed for aspiring deans and senior faculty in leadership roles that provide participants with a focused assessment experience and a range of content and exercises related to successful executive leadership. Thank you Dr. Holt for your continued dedication to your students and towards the leadership of our school!

Staff member selected for "Top 40 under 40"

Congratulations to Latasha Cox, project manager for practice and partnerships, for being selected as one of the Mississippi Business Journal's "Top 40 under 40." She was honored with her fellow list mates during a luncheon earlier this spring. According to the journal, the listing "recognizes business and civic leaders who have proven themselves as high achievers and trendsetters, and who make significant contributions to economic progress at the state and local level." The winners come from varied organizations including government, health care and higher education. Thank you to Latasha for all you do for our faculty practice, school-based health clinics and our practice partnerships! We could not do all we do in practice without your valued, warm spirit!