Vice Chancellor LouAnn Woodward Biography

LouAnn Woodward assumed her current dual role as vice chancellor and dean on March 1, 2015. She is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the Medical Center, a $1.5 billion enterprise that is Mississippi’s only academic medical center. Previously she served for five years as associate vice chancellor for health affairs and vice dean of the School of Medicine during the tenure as vice chancellor of Dr. James E. Keeton.

A native of Mississippi’s Carroll County, Woodward graduated from Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss., and attended medical school and completed a residency in emergency medicine at UMMC. She joined the faculty in the Department of Emergency Medicine, where she currently holds the rank of tenured professor.

Woodward has published a number of research articles and is a regular presenter at national academic and professional meetings and to groups throughout Mississippi. She is an active member of the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Mississippi State Medical Association, the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine and the American College of Emergency Physicians, among other groups. She is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

In 2013, she was appointed as a member of the Liaison Committee for Medical Education, the accrediting body for all medical schools in the United States and Canada. She became chair of the committee in July 2017. She also serves on the administrative board of the AAMC.

Among her achievements as vice chancellor, Woodward advocated for and shepherded through the state Legislature the Health Care Collaboration Act of 2017. The law provides UMMC additional flexibility in conducting its health care operations in the state. She is also helping to lead a $100 million fundraising effort – the largest capital campaign in Medical Center history – to expand UMMC’s children’s hospital and pediatric specialty services.

Woodward and her husband Jon live in Madison and are the parents of four children. She is an avid reader and enjoys spending time with family.