New faculty join UMMC academic ranks

Published on Tuesday, January 18, 2022

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

Dr. Azad R. Bhuiyan

Dr. Azad R. Bhuiyan, recently a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, at Jackson State University, has joined the Medical Center faculty, part-time, research and scholarship, in the School of Nursing.

Bhuiyan earned his MBBS (U.S. equivalency MD) at Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka University, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 1996 before earning his Master of Public Health in epidemiology at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, where he also received his PhD in public health.

In 2020, he earned a certificate in the Health Disparities Research Education Program at the University of Alabama Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center, Birmingham.

Bhuiyan had worked as a research associate on the Bogalusa Heart Study at the Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health during his matriculation. He had also worked as a data manager on a National Institutes of Health-funded HIV project in Tulane’s Department of Epidemiology and outpatient clinic. 

He joined Jackson State University in 2008 as an assistant professor and, over the years, rose to the rank of full professor in the School of Public Health.

Bhuiyan has been the principal investigator or co-investigator on several grant-funded projects and is the lead or co-author on numerous published peer-refereed journal articles. He is the author or co-author of two published book chapters and has made about four dozen national and international conference presentations, and another three dozen state and local refereed conference presentations.

The recipient of a variety of professional awards, Bhuiyan is a member the American Public Health Association, the Bangladesh Medical & Dental Council and the Mississippi Public Health Association.

Dr. Amy S. Kohtz

Dr. Amy S. Kohtz, recently a post-doctoral scholar at the Rutgers University Brain Health Institute in Piscataway, New Jersey, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of psychiatry in the School of Medicine.

Kohtz received her MA equivalency in the Behavioral Neuroscience Program from the University at Albany, State University of New York, before earning her PhD there in 2014.

She did post-doctoral work at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston before joining the Brain Institute. She has taught at the Rutgers University School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology, and the University at Albany.

Kohtz is the co-author of at least 20 current or pending publications in professional journals and has made numerous invited talks and poster presentations. Among her most recent awards and honors is the Travel Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Her professional memberships cover such organizations as the Society of Toxicology, the Society for Neuroscience, and the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society.

Kohtz is doing research on the initiation and maintenance of abstinence following addiction.

Dr. Jung Hye Sung Lee

Dr. Jung Hye Sung Lee, recently a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Jackson State University, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of research and scholarship in the School of Nursing.

She received her Master of Public Health at Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea, before earning her Doctor of Science in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans.

Through much of her career, she served as biostatistician at several institutions, including UMMC, Boston University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Howard University, Wake Forest University Health Sciences and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Willowbrook, California. She has also served as a research biostatistician for the Mississippi State Department of Health and as a data curator for the Jackson Heart Study.

Lee joined Jackson State University as an assistant professor in 2009 and rose to the rank of full professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in 2019. Her current or recent professional roles include president of the Korean Society for Public Health and chair of the U.S. branch of the Korea Public Health Association.

The recipient of numerous professional honors, including many for teaching excellence, she is the co-author of around 40 published articles in professional journals and has been a presenter or co-presenter at more than 100 professional conferences and meetings.

Lee, who has collected around a dozen grant-funded research projects, is a member of a variety of professional organizations, such as the American Heart Association, the American Public Health Association, the International Society for Preventive Cardiology, the Mississippi Task Force on Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, and the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association.

Dr. Kendria D. Lyles

Dr. Kendria D. Lyles, recently a program manager at the Mississippi Public Health Institute, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor in the Doctor of Health Administration program for the School of Health Related Professions.

Lyles earned her Master of Health Sciences at the University of Mississippi before receiving her Doctor of Health Administration at the University in 2019.

Before joining the Mississippi Public Health Institute, she held various positions at UMMC, including manager, employee training; human resources service partner, talent development; and senior epic optimization trainer.

She has served on various committees at the Medical Center, such as the Institutional Climate Committee, Office of Diversity and Inclusion; and the Institutional Assessment Committee, Academic Affairs.

Lyles has earned several certificates/certifications in such areas as diversity and inclusion, unconscious bias and more.