Gastroenterologist, speech pathologist, urologist join UMMC faculty

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

Editor's note: Dr. Rodney Washington, a new faculty member in the John D. Bower School of Population Health, was erroneously listed as an associate professor with tenure and chair of population health sciences. In fact, he is an associate professor of population health sciences. eCV regrets the error.

Jessica R. May, M.A.

Jessica R. May, an adult speech-language pathologist at UMMC, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor in otolaryngology.

After receiving her B.A. in psychology from Southern Wesleyan University, Central, South Carolina, in 2007, May earned her M.A. in speech-language pathology at Kent State University, Ohio, in 2010. She completed her clinical fellowship and began serving as a full-time speech-language pathologist, specializing in the evaluation and treatment of dysphagia, including training in modified barium swallow studies and fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing. Through the last decade, she has also worked in other settings, including inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing and as a mobile FEES provider.

May moved to Mississippi in 2018 and came to UMMC in January 2019. She has served in the inpatient and acute care settings.

An active member of the American Speech and Hearing Association, including as a member of special interest groups (SIG) 13 (swallowing and swallowing disorders) and 03 (voice and upper airway disorders), May has given invited presentations at the Ohio Health Care Conference, Columbus, in 2016 and 2018 and will be presenting this spring at the Mississippi Speech Hearing Association (MSHA) state conference on the topic of FEES and its use for evaluating swallowing disorders.

David C. Schaefer, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. David C. Schaefer, a longtime gastroenterologist most recently with the Osler Medical Group, Melbourne Regional Medical Center, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an associate professor of medicine.

After receiving his B.A. with high honors in psychology from the University of Virginia in 1978, Schaefer earned his M.S. in clinical psychology in 1981 and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1984 at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her served in the U.S. Army as chief of psychology service at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, from 1984-87 and as director of mental health, west region, for the Maryland Division of Corrections from 1987-88.

While serving in private practice as a part-time clinical psychologist, Schaefer earned his M.D. at Eastern Virginia Medical School in 1992. He had categorical internal medicine residency training from 1992-95 and was chief resident of internal medicine from 1994-95 at York Hospital, Pennsylvania; and had fellowship training from 1995-97 at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Schaefer served as an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from 1997-2001. He then joined the teaching faculty of Geisinger Health System, including the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical School, Hershey Medical Center and Pennsylvania College of Medicine. In 2011 he became a clinical associate professor in medicine at the Commonwealth Medical College. Throughout his academic tenure, he has served stints as director of the Division of Gastroenterology, medical director of the Outpatient Surgical Center and director of medical endoscopy at the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center; chairman of the Department of Medicine at Williamsport Regional Medical Center; and vice chairman of the medical staff at Melbourne Regional Medical Center.

A fellow of the American College of Physicians and an active member of the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Gastroenterology Association and the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Schaefer earned the Army Commendation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal while in the military. The author or coauthor of 19 articles in peer-reviewed publications, seven recent abstracts and two book chapters, he has given numerous invited presentations at scientific meetings nationally.

James Wallace, M.D.

Dr. James Wallace, a urologist at the Urology Clinic of Meridian, Anderson Regional Medical Center, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of surgery.

After receiving his B.S. as a physician assistant summa cum laude from South University, Savannah, Georgia, in 2003, Wallace served as a full-time physician assistant in internal medicine and pediatrics in Springfield, Georgia, from 2003-08 before earning his M.D. at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, in 2012. He then had urology residency training from 2012-17 at UMMC and joined the Urology Clinic of Meridian in 2017.

An active member of the American Urological Association, the American College of Surgeons and the Christian Medical and Dental Association, Wallace is an inductee of Alpha Omega Alpha, the Gold Humanism Society, Phi Alpha and Phi Theta Kappa. The author or coauthor of three articles in peer-reviewed publications, he has given seven invited presentations at scientific meetings nationally.