Chemistry, geosciences specialist, surgical critical care fellow join faculty

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

Kristin Shirey Edwards, Ph.D.

Dr. Kristin Shirey Edwards, an assistant professor of chemistry and geosciences at Jacksonville State University, Alabama, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of cell and molecular biology.

After receiving her B.S. with highest honors in biology and chemistry from Jacksonville State University in 2011, Edwards earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry in 2017 at UMMC, where she had a postdoctoral research fellowship from 2017-18. She joined the Jacksonville State University faculty as an assistant professor of chemistry and geosciences in 2019.

An active member of the American Physiological Society; the American Heart Association; the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and the American Chemical Society, Edwards is the author or coauthor of 10 articles in peer-reviewed professional publications and 31 abstracts for scientific presentations. A dean’s scholar at UMMC, she has received numerous academic awards and has served on several educational committees.

Mouayyad Zaza, M.D.

Dr. Mouayyad Zaza, a recent graduate of the Trauma and Surgical Critical Care fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of surgery in the Division of Acute Care Surgery and Surgical Critical Care.

After receiving his M.D. from Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Doha, in 2012, Zaza underwent general surgery residency training from 2012-17 at the Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas, followed by trauma and acute care surgery fellowship training from 2017-18 and surgical critical care fellowship training from 2018-19 at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Zaza's clinical interests include care for acutely injured trauma patients, including resuscitation, operative management and critical care. He is also passionate about surgical training and medical education. His research interests include multi-modal pain management, traumatic coagulopathy, and surgical stabilization and rib fixation.