New faculty join UMMC academic ranks

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

Dr. Justin B. Daniels

Dr. Justin B. Daniels, recently the medical director of the emergency department at Merit Health Madison and chief of staff for the hospital’s Medical Executive Committee, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of emergency medicine.

After receiving his medical degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Medicine in 2010, Daniels completed his residency in emergency medicine at UMMC in 2014.

Daniels, who became a founding partner of Capital Emergency Physicians, Merit Health River Oaks in Flowood, served as the emergency department medical director at Merit Health Madison starting in 2016. Since 2017, he has served as a volunteer physician for SCORE International Off-road Racing.

He was vice chief of staff for the Merit Madison Medical Executive Committee for two years before becoming chief of staff in 2020.

Anna H. Owings, DO

Dr. Anna H. Owings, recently an internal medicine resident at UMMC, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor in medicine.

After receiving her BS in biology in 2012 from the University of Alabama, Owings earned her DO in 2018 at Lincoln Memorial University - DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tennessee. She then completed residency training in internal medicine at UMMC.

A Jackson Free Clinic volunteer, a member of the Resident Wellness Committee at UMMC and a council member on the American College of Physicians, Mississippi Chapter, Owings has authored or coauthored 10 journal articles and 24 abstracts presented at scientific meetings nationally. A resident member of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Gastroenterological Association, among other professional organizations, her quality improvement interests include prevention of failed inpatient colonoscopy preparations by means of electronic medical record order set and limiting ineffective treatment of constipation in hospitalized patients. She is also an active member of Dr. Sarah Glover's Research Lab in the Division of Digestive Diseases.

Dr. Christy L. Savell

Dr. Christy L. Savell, recently an associate degree nursing instructor at Meridian Community College, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor in the School of Nursing.

In 1997, Savell earned the Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Southern Mississippi, where, in 2003, she completed the Master of Science in Adult Health Nursing and, in 2016, a PhD in Nursing Leadership. She presented a dissertation on job satisfaction among associate degree nurse educators and leaders.

This year, she earned an Adult-Geriatric Nurse Practitioner Certificate at UMMC.

She has also served as a member of the adjunct or visiting faculty at William Carey University, USM and Aspen University in Denver, Colorado. At East Central Community College in Decatur, she was an Associate Degree Nursing Instructor and taught Certified Nursing Assistant classes part-time.

As an RN, Savell worked as a bedside nurse from 1992 to 2009 at Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian, St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, Laird Hospital in Union and Riley Memorial Hospital in Meridian; and for Laird Home Health in Union. Her experience includes critical care, ER and medical-surgical nursing.

Her presentations and publications have covered such topics as breast cancer risk factors, cardiovascular disease and risk factors in women, and more.

Dr. Kshama J. Vyas

Dr. Kshama J. Vyas, who completed her family medicine residency at the Medical Center in June, has joined the faculty as assistant professor of family medicine in the School of Medicine.

Vyas earned her Doctor of Medicine in 2017 at the Windsor University School of Medicine, St. Kitts, West Indies. While there, in 2014, she served as Class Representative to the American Medical Student Association.

At UMMC, in 2020, she received the Gary W. Jefcoats Resident Teaching Award, given to a resident who demonstrates outstanding teaching ability in the areas of medical student, resident and patient education.

Vyas has devoted many hours to volunteer work, from the West Indies to Canada, including at the Jackson Free Clinic in Jackson. In 2016, she contributed more than 200 volunteer hours at India House Charity Medical Clinic in Houston, Texas.

She is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Board of Family Medicine and the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians.