By Ida Brown / ibrown@themeridianstar.com
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN —
Two new University of Mississippi Medical Center leaders were in Meridian Tuesday to meet with representatives of the medical community as well as alumni from UMMC's various professional schools who live and work in the vicinity.
Dr. James E. Keeton, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at UMMC, and Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs at UMMC and vice dean of the University of Mississippi's School of Medicine, are currently traveling to various parts of the state to introduce themselves as well as share current happenings at the Jackson facility.
"Because of the Healthcare Reform and the disparity of health care in Mississippi and the need for more health care providers in Mississippi, we feel that we (UMMC) play an important role in that," said Keeton, who, along with Woodward, assumed his position in February.
"We are the main ones who produce physicians – UMMC produces essentially over half of the physicians in Mississippi – yet Mississippi still has the lowest number of physicians per capita in the nation," he said. "With all the state's health care disparity – obesity, diabetes and heart disease – we feel that we should be partnering and telling our story to other hospital systems, and tell them about our attempt is in growth and how we can collaborate."
Increasing UMMC's medical school class size is a primary focus. The facility just enrolled 135 first-year students – up from 120 last year and 100 three years ago. UMMC officials would like to increase the number to 165 per class in the next few years, but won't be able to do that without additional state support.
"We want the public to know that the University of Mississippi Medical Center belongs to everybody. Most of the physicians here in Meridian trained there," Keeton said. "We want them to know what their school is doing and what their medical center is doing."
Keeton and Woodward, who traveled to Tupelo and Hattiesburg before their visit to Meridian, are scheduled to make their next visit to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. For the full story about what is going on with the University of Mississippi Medical Center, see Sunday's Star.
