Cheers, hugs and laughter heralded the results of three days of giving through the Mississippi Miracles Radiothon. Three days of broadcasting resulted in $443,396 raised for Batson Children's Hospital.

“Thank you, Mississippi, for what you do for the children of Batson Children's Hospital,” said an emotional Mark McCoy, an on-air personality for 100.9 The Legend, who was broadcasting the total live from the hospital lobby as it was announced Friday night.

A year after being tapped to head the state's only academic medical center, Dr. LouAnn Woodward is poised to lead the agency setting the tone for medical education throughout the entire country and Canada.

On July 1, the vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine will become chair-elect of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) for 12 months before taking over as chair of the accrediting body in July 2017 for a one-year term.

Woodward, who has led UMMC since March 1, 2015, was appointed in 2013 to a three-year membership to the LCME and was reappointed this year; she has served on its executive committee and chairs its subcommittee on International Relations.

If knowledge is food for the brain, then the 2^nd annual UM/UMMC Research Day was a veritable feast.

More than 120 presenters provided free samples of their work on Thursday, Mar. 3 in the Norman C. Nelson Student Union.

Hosted at the University of Mississippi in Oxford last year, Research Day is meant to facilitate communication and collaboration between the campuses through a series of lectures and posters.

“Every good scientific meeting should be inspirational and informational,” said Dr. Richard Summers, associate vice chancellor for research at UMMC. “The purpose of today is to allow each other to understand what we each do and to build synergy between our campuses.”

The Medical Center is proud to acknowledge those employees who will celebrate service anniversaries this week:

15 Years

Patricia Little, telecom engineer/analyst, Information Systems

Jettie Lockwood, inpatient nurse, Batson Children's Hospital (Newborn ICU)

Cathryn Salvo, inpatient nurse, Neuroscience ICU

10 Years

Angela Ainsworth, accounting clerk, Accounting Department

Robert Kalka, associate comptroller, Accounting Department

Shawanna Singleton, accountant, Accounting Department

5 Years

Stephenie Bell, environmental services technician, Environmental Services

Melverta Bender, project manager, School of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

Ashley Benson, physician scheduler, University Physicians (Pavilion Internal Medicine)

Patrick Brown, Epic application coordinator/analyst, Information Systems

Jacob Crouch, nurse, University Hospital (3 South)

Tina Gabell, inpatient nurse, University Hospital (3 South)

Mina Lewis, director of revenue cycle, University Physicians (Central Billing Office)

Richard Muirhead, inpatient nurse, University Hospital (7 West)

Kathy Pierce, medical technologist, Clinical Lab Administration

Allison Princiotta, inpatient nurse, Batson Children's Hospital (Post Anesthesia Care Unit)

Latonya Thigpen, information technology help desk technician, Information Systems

Helen Tucker, unit secretary, University Hospital (5 North)

Dorothea White, surgical technician, Batson Children's Hospital (Surgical Suite)

A couple of interesting events is scheduled for the upcoming week at the Medical Center: