Darlene Bryant did everything right - and she still fell down.

It had been raining the day she took the shuttle bus to campus. “I had my umbrella, and I was getting off the bus. I was holding onto the rail. I had on flat shoes. I wasn't on my phone,” remembered Bryant, the Medical Center's director of risk management.

“I got to the second step, and next thing I know, I'm on the street,” Bryant said. “I landed first with my back against the steps of the bus. The driver on the bus ran down to me, and the people on the street were standing around, asking if they could help me.

“I wanted to make sure I could breathe. It had knocked the breath out of me,” Bryant said. “I got up and walked to the office.”

She became what people would rather not be: a safety statistic. In 2015, the Medical Center recorded 117 employee slips, trips and falls “all committed in the act of walking,” said Donnie Denton, supervisor and senior safety officer in Environmental Health and Safety.

The list of smoking-associated conditions continues to grow, according to UMMC researchers.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association on May 25, found that African-Americans who currently smoke cigarettes had an 83 percent higher incidence of rapid renal function (RRF) decline than never-smokers.

If getting through medical school or dental school is like a mystery that must be solved, then Kandice Bailey and Brian McDonnieal have already discovered a great big clue.

A number of interesting events is scheduled for the upcoming week at the Medical Center.

UMMC cardiovascular caregivers earn Mission: Lifeline recognition; respiratory therapist captures leadership award; radiologic sciences, magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine technology students achieve a perfect score; and a School of Dentistry alum is listed as the area's top dentist by a local publication.