UMMC nurses, SON faculty, biomed student earn distinctions

Hall of Fame, All Star Awards celebrate exceptional UMMC nurses

Five of the Medical Center’s stellar nurses have been recognized with 2021 Nursing Awards sponsored by the Office of Nursing Quality, Development and Professional Practice.

Recipients of the Hall of Fame Award include:

* Dr. Josie Bidwell, associate professor of preventive medicine, clinical director of the Department of Preventive Medicine and a nurse practitioner, and

* Dr. Brad Martin, instructor in orthopaedics and an orthopaedic surgery nurse practitioner.

Recipients of the All-Star Award include:

* Joe Easterling, an RN in the Adult Emergency Department,

* Bradley Vanlandingham, an RN in the Pediatric Emergency Department, and

* Dr. Jamie Thompson, director of perioperative finances and business operations and an RN.

“The 2021 Nursing All-Star and Hall of Fame winners represent UMMC and the nursing profession well,” said Heather Pierce, manager of nursing development and professional practice. “We should all be proud.

“In our esteemed group of nursing award honorees, we have nurses serving in a wide variety of roles, each with proven leadership skills, clinical expertise and a strong focus on patient safety, teamwork, collaboration, compassionate care and integrity. These nurses are playing a vital role in fulfilling UMMC’s mission to create a Healthier Mississippi.”

APP associate dean elected to national telehealth committee

Dr. Anne Norwood, professor and associate dean of advanced practice and partnerships in the School of Nursing, has been elected to the National Organization for Nurse Practitioner Faculties’ Telehealth Committee.

Norwood said her two-year term will be an opportunity to share UMMC’s telehealth experiences with a national audience.

“When I applied to run for this office, it was because of our experience here at UMMC using telehealth so students could get their clinical hours during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Norwood said.

UMMC is recognized as one of only two federally designated Centers of Excellence in Telehealth.

During the pandemic, nurse practitioner students sat in on telehealth visits with patients’ consent, listening and then asking questions and diagnosing patients with faculty supervision. As the nation emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth should be a key part of curriculum for nurse practitioners, Norwood said.

“Telehealth is a valuable tool for reaching patients, especially those in rural areas or where there are no health care providers, and its use will increase,” she said. “What better way to take the initiative than through the telehealth committee?”

The committee’s goals for this year are to disseminate best practices, competencies and faculty resources, identify faculty development opportunities to enhance telehealth knowledge and provide leadership on the use of telehealth in nurse practitioner education.

Dr. Julie Sanford, School of Nursing dean, applauded Norwood’s committee service.

“Dr. Norwood’s participation on this committee will be an opportunity for her to share her telehealth expertise and impact decision-making for nurse practitioner educational programs across the nation,” Sanford said.

IADR selects biomedical sciences PhD student for Kulzer Award

Lohitha Kalluri, a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences-Materials Sciences Track in the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences at UMMC, received the 2021 Kulzer Award from the International Association for Dental Research.

The Kulzer Award recognizes five young investigators worldwide with a cash prize to cover expenses to attend and give a presentation at IADR’s annual General Session and Exhibition. The objective of the award program is to encourage recipients to undertake research on new and innovative ways to develop, improve and test dental materials.

Kalluri’s mentor is Dr. Yuanyuan Duan, UMMC associate professor of biomedical materials science.