Program Overview

Our mission

The Jabaley-Songcharoen Center for Hand, Upper Extremity and Nerve Surgery is a multidisciplinary collaboration of board-certified hand surgeons, certified hand therapists and affiliated health care professionals offering the highest level of care for the entire scope of hand, upper extremity and nerve conditions in children and adults.

Specialists provide care for common complaints, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, to the most complex cases including brachial plexus injuries and upper extremity cancer reconstruction.

The UMMC Hand Center also supports education, research opportunities and training for future hand, upper extremity and nerve specialists. The UMMC hand surgery fellowship offers an innovative approach and access to the most complex cases for all UMMC hand fellows, plastic surgery and orthopaedic surgery residents.

Hand surgeons from across the globe have the opportunity to apply for our international hand surgeon exchange program at UMMC. As part of this program, UMMC surgeons, residents and fellows also can travel internationally to learn and support patients around the world.

Our history

The Jabaley-Songcharoen Center for Hand, Upper Extremity and Nerve Surgery began with an enduring friendship and shared commitment to excellence in hand surgery.

“We wanted to establish the center at UMMC to honor the memory of Dr. Michael (Mike) Jabaley, my great teacher, co-faculty member, friend and partner, with whom I trained residents in hand surgery at the university and cared for Mississippians across the state,” said plastic surgeon and hand specialist Dr. Somprasong Songcharoen. In their early days as hand surgeons, they shared a vision for expanding the breadth of hand surgery in Mississippi to include world-class teaching, education, research and hand surgery innovation. “I wanted to see this become a reality in my lifetime,” said Songcharoen.

“Mike and I met in Maryland, where he was on the plastic surgery faculty at Johns Hopkins Hospital and where I was a general surgery resident at the University of Maryland,” Songcharoen said. “Ultimately, Mike recruited me to Mississippi for plastic surgery training. We both stayed in Mississippi and developed hand surgery practices together while sharing the dream of this center.”

Best known for his work in Dupuytren’s contracture and carpal tunnel surgery, Jabaley earned a medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. He completed a residency in general surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and then a residency in plastic surgery at Johns Hopkins, where he later served as an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery and plastic surgery.

Jabaley also held plastic surgery visiting professorships at Harvard University, Stanford University, Ochsner Medical Center, Columbia University, Duke University and Vanderbilt University. In 1972, Jabaley was recruited by Dr. James Hardy to serve as chief of plastic surgery at UMMC. Together, he, Dr. Alan Freeland and Dr. Somprasong Songcharoen led the early effort in hand surgery in Mississippi. Throughout his career, Jabaley produced almost 100 scientific papers.

In 2023, Dr. Somprasong Songcharoen and his wife, Dr. Suthin Songcharoen, made a $5 million gift to UMMC, creating both the Hand Center and the Songcharoen Endowed Chair of Plastic and Reconstructive Hand Surgery.