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Neurology fellow, interventional radiology fellow, pharmacy administration expert join UMMC faculty

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

Shashank Shekhar, M.D.

Dr. Shashank Shekhar, a former neurology resident and vascular neurology fellow at UMMC, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of neurology.

After earning his M.D. at Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India, in 2006, Shekhar obtained the scholarship for the M.Sc. program in neuroscience at the University of Helsinki, Finland and graduated from the program in 2010. He then served as a research fellow at the Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Finland, from 2010-13 before coming to UMMC for his neurology residency (2013-17) and his vascular neurology fellowship (2017-18).

An active member of the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology and the American Heart and Stroke Association, Shekhar is the author or coauthor of seven peer-reviewed original articles and six review articles in scientific publications. He has authored a book chapter focusing on the management of hemorrhagic stroke.

Shekhar has received many awards throughout his academic career as scholarship and research grants. He has authored or coauthored many posters and given lectures presented at scientific meetings internationally.

Shekhar is a member of the editorial board for three different peer-reviewed journals, serving as senior blogger for the American Heart and Stroke Association and ad-hoc reviewer for various high-impact journals. His research interests include quality improvement, biomarker and cerebrovascular disease.

As a newly selected co-principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health StrokeNet for UMMC, Shekhar is committed to bringing high-quality research projects. Besides his interest in research and fulfilling his clinical duties, Shekhar has a keen interest in academics and likes to teach medical students and residents.

Lori M. Ward, Ph.D.

Dr. Lori M. Ward, recently an assistant professor of pharmacy administration at the University of Mississippi, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of population health science.

After receiving her B.S. in chemistry from Tennessee State University, Nashville, in 2000, Ward earned her M.S. in pharmaceutical sciences at Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, in 2006. She completed a dual-title Ph.D. in pharmacy administration (health outcomes research) and gerontology at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, in 2013. She joined the University of Mississippi faculty as an assistant professor of pharmacy administration in 2014 and also served as a research assistant professor at UM’s Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management, in Oxford.

She is a member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and the Rho Chi Honor Society. She has been affiliated with the Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute for the Elimination of Health Disparities since 2015. She has authored or coauthored multiple peer-reviewed articles and abstracts and has presented several poster and podium presentations at scientific meetings nationally.

 

Henry Williams, M.D.

Dr. J. Henry Williams, an interventional radiology fellow at the University of Alabama Birmingham, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of radiology.

After receiving his B.S. in microbiology from Mississippi State University in 2005, Williams earned his M.S. in biomedical science in 2008 and his M.D. in 2012 at UMMC, where he had a diagnostic radiology residency from 2012-16. He was an interventional radiology fellow at UAB from 2017-18.

Williams has authored two articles in peer-reviewed scientific publications and one digital poster presentation.