The MIND Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center announced today a cumulative $10 million gift from the Gertrude C. Ford Foundation to advance its Alzheimer's disease research and establish the Gertrude C. Ford MIND Research Center.

The gift could not come at a better time.

“Americans are living longer than ever and with the aging of the baby boomer generation, we are facing a silver tsunami,” said Dr. Tom Mosley, director of the Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center, at the Nov. 7 ceremony on the UMMC campus.

The sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, more than 52,000 Mississippians have Alzheimer's or similar conditions.

“That number is expected to double by the year 2030 and triple by 2050 unless we find ways to slow, stop or ultimately prevent these devastating illnesses,” Mosley said. "There is a sense of urgency, and we are in a hurry."

When expensive supplies and equipment are overstocked or underutilized, when staffing levels don't match up to patient volume, and if the hospital isn't seen as a great place to work, it hurts the organization and drains revenues.

Those can be big problems to overcome - but the solutions can be found through what's known as the 100-Day Workout, a nationally recognized quality improvement initiative that brings together multidisciplinary groups of employees to tackle performance, quality, safety or other issues.

It doesn't call for physical exercise, but team members who take on the challenge must stretch their imaginations and flex their leadership muscles to effect change where tweaking or even an overhaul is needed. It calls for using a “lean” methodology in areas where resources aren't being properly used in order to improve care, satisfaction or financial performance.

So far, the University of Mississippi Medical Center has completed four workouts, with the fifth - follow-up action on the recent employee engagement survey -- beginning Nov. 16.

Part of the workout's philosophy is to hold leadership's feet to the fire, challenging them to come up with solutions with built-in accountability and ownership - and to do it fast.

UMMC honored its 2016 Excellence in Research Awards recipients Nov. 9 in the Norman C. Nelson Student Union.

Held annually, the ceremony recognizes faculty members for their achievements in gaining outside funding. The award levels - platinum, gold, silver and bronze - are based on the cumulative amount of extramural funding received by the investigator for their original research.

The 26 medallion recipients, including three platinum, 10 gold, five silver and eight bronze, tied with 2014 for the largest group of awardees. Their successes have brought in a cumulative $34 million in research funding for the Medical Center.

Dr. Richard Summers, associate vice chancellor for research, noted recent successes in basic, clinical and translational research and credited them in part to UMMC's work environment.

“[At UMMC] we have freedom of thought…and freedom to nurture and foster our own ideas,” Summers said, referring to a conversation he had with the late Dr. Arthur Guyton.

The rest of the credit, Summers said, goes to the people who make it happen: UMMC's researchers, staff and students.

For the second year, the Office of Research also granted Discovery Awards. These peer-nominated and reviewed awards recognize early-career investigators, meritorious research service and translational research. The event also recognized this year's patent recipients.

“Our aim as researchers is to discover,” Summers said, “and some of our greatest discoveries at UMMC were not funded by grants.”

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

Dr. Brian Rutledge, chief of staff, is one of two candidates in PERS board runoff election, while national, local organizations recognize Medical Center faculty, staff, students and volunteers for outstanding performance.