Since arriving last spring at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Henderson has focused on a tough, yet achievable goal: Cutting patient harm events by half.

And as national watchdog groups and government agencies publicly scrutinize the Medical Center's safety record, Henderson has a message for front-line caregivers: The ball is in your court.

The problem of having babies born too soon is enormous in Mississippi, but it's getting smaller all the time.

From 2009 to 2014, Mississippi reduced births earlier than 37 weeks by 11 percent overall and by 16 percent in the African-American community. The state also saw an 18 percent increase in the number of babies born at full term, over 39 weeks.

For these efforts, Mississippi received the March of Dimes Virginia Apgar Award, which recognizes states that lowered preterm birth rates by at least 8 percent from 2009 to 2014.

Patients and parents at Batson Children's Hospital got to see a familiar face Tuesday afternoon.

Instead of seeing Jenna Bush Hager's smiling face on NBC's Today Show, though, they got to see her live.

Hager, the younger of the fraternal twin daughters of 43^rd President George W. Bush and granddaughter of 41^st President George H.W. Bush, was in Jackson to speak at the Sanderson Farms Championship Women's Day luncheon Tuesday. The third generation in the Bush family to be involved with the PGA Tour, Hager is a special correspondent for NBC, an author and an editor-at-large for Southern Living magazine.

“I'm thrilled to visit Batson Children's Hospital as part of the Sanderson Farms Championship,” said Hager, who read to patients from the book, “Read All About It!,” which she authored with her mother, former first lady Laura Bush. PGA Tour golfers John Merrick, Tim Wilkinson and Rhein Gibson, in town to compete in the tournament, came along.

The Medical Center is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff:

What do a nuclear medicine chief, a Cancer Institute associate professor and a community health officer have in common? Recognition by national academic and professional societies which brings recognition to the University of Mississippi Medical Center.