As part of the 35^th Annual Dental Alumni and Friends held Friday, February 10 at The Fairview Inn in Jackson, Dr. Fanasy Deming-Jefcoat was honored as the 2017 Dental Alumnus of the Year.

In spite of running her own periodontics practice as well as teaching part time at the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry, and dedicating time to several professional boards, Deming-Jefcoat said that she was shocked to be chosen for this honor.

“I was completely surprised when I heard the news, especially since this honor usually seems to go to someone much farther along in their career,” said Deming-Jefcoat.

Deming-Jefcoat knew from age 5 that she wanted to do something in the medical field. She grew up in southern Louisiana, and received her Bachelor of Science in Biology at Mississippi College before attending dental school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. “Mississippi College was a good fit for me, and had a great program, and I felt so at home in Mississippi. I was thrilled to be able to stay here [for dental school],” she said.

Following graduation at UMMC, Deming-Jefcoat went on to earn her masters and a Certificate of Periodontics at Baylor College of Dentistry, later earning board certification in periodontology.

Her next endeavor was starting her own practice in Madison.

“I started from scratch, and it's a tough start-up,” said Deming-Jefcoat. “I feel very blessed to have established a practice and relationships with other dentists. It's all about relationships, with other dentists and our patients.”

A cancer researcher's most recent discovery ultimately may enable doctors to identify the drug or drug combination that works best against glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, before treatment begins.

Dr. Pier Paolo Claudio, who holds appointments at the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Cancer Institute and at the University of Mississippi, worked with a team to ascertain whether tumors taken from cancer patients and tested in the laboratory could predict responses.

Study results show the process they used to test bulk tumor cells and cancer stem cells in the lab correlates with progress patients showed or didn't show with current recommended therapies. The next step will be testing the process in clinical trials.

Tumor cells treated with drugs that acted on both bulk tumor cells and cancer stem cells showed the best response. Those treated with drugs that had little effect on one or the other saw an earlier recurrence of the cancer.

Patients who had more than 40 percent of their cancer stem cells killed by temozolomide in the assay had longer times before tumor recurrence than those whose had fewer cells killed in the assay.

“We'll need further clinical trials but results of this study bring us closer to offering personalized therapy for this type of brain cancer,” Claudio said.

Good news for Mississippi in the battle against HIV: The proportion of residents unaware they are HIV infected has decreased from 21.6 percent to 13.6 percent, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week.

It's a move in the right direction, largely due to increased awareness and testing, a University of Mississippi Medical Center sexually transmitted infections authority says.

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