New faculty join UMMC academic ranks

Published on Monday, January 31, 2022

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

Dr. C. Ralph Daniel III

Dr. C. Ralph Daniel III, recently a dermatologist affiliated with St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, has joined the Medical Center faculty as a professor of dermatology in the School of Medicine.

Daniel, a 1977 graduate of the School of Medicine at UMMC, completed his dermatology residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Board-certified in dermatology, he began his private practice in Jackson in 1981. Over the years, he has served as chief of Dermatology at the VA Medical Center in Jackson and had appointments as clinical professor of dermatology at UMMC and at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is one of a very few dermatologists who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of nail disorders.

Daniel has served as president of the Council for Nail Disorders, president of the Mississippi Dermatology Association, vice president of the European Nail Society and secretary-treasurer of the Women’s Dermatologic Society, for which he helped establish its legacy fund. He has pursued fundraising on behalf on other dermatologic organizations as well.

Daniel has been a member of the board of directors for, among other organizations, the Noah Worcester Dermatological Society, the American Academy of Dermatology, and Bradley Pharmaceuticals. He is the author of several textbooks on nail disease and hundreds of book chapters, peer-reviewed articles, posters and abstracts.

Daniel has been a meeting chair and speaker at more than 100 national and international conferences on nail disorders. For several years he was a member of the affiliate faculty at UMMC.

Elizabeth McPhail

Elizabeth McPhail, recently a registered dental hygienist at Alford Family Dentistry in Clinton, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor in dental hygiene.

McPhail earned a degree in biological sciences from Mississippi College in 2019 before enrolling in the UMMC School of Dentistry’s dental hygiene program, graduating in 2021.

Before enrolling at UMMC, she worked for a year as a certified pharmacy technician in Byram. After graduation, she was a registered dental hygienist at Mississippi Dental Center in Jackson before joining Alford Family Dentistry.

Dr. Teresa M. Perkins

Dr. Teresa M. Perkins, recently in private dental practice in Jackson as the owner of Perkins Pediatric Dentistry, has joined the Medical Center faculty as a professor of pediatric dentistry and community oral health in the School of Dentistry.

Perkins received her DMD in 1981 from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, where she also earned her Master of Medical Sciences in Oral Biology and did a research fellowship in oral pathology.

Her dental residency training was at Children’s Hospital in Boston. She also received training in computer programming, statistical analysis, at the Harvard School of Public Health, and at Wentworth College in Boston.

Perkins has had faculty appointments at a variety of institutions, including the Harvard School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital in Boston, Tougaloo College, the University of Mississippi, Children’s Hospital in New Orleans and the LSU School of Dentistry.

 Previously, she was on the faculty of the School of Dentistry at UMMC, as an assistant professor of pediatric dentistry, 1988-1991; and clinical associate professor, 2009-2013.

She has held administrative responsibilities at Syracuse Community Health Center in New York, the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital and, as patient care coordinator, the School of Dentistry at UMMC.

Perkins, who is board-certified in pediatric dentistry and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, has been invited by numerous professional organizations to deliver lectures and presentations.

Her many honors include being named in 2010 to the Nelson Order at UMMC, which honors the institution’s best teachers, as chosen by students.