New faculty join UMMC academic ranks

Published on Monday, August 29, 2022

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

Dr. Thomas E. Dobbs

Dr. Thomas E. Dobbs, recently State Health Officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, has joined the Medical Center faculty as dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health and professor of infectious diseases in the School of Medicine.

Since 2018, he has served as an associate professor of population health at UMMC, in addition to his duties at MSDH.

At UMMC, he is also teaching epidemiology for the School of Population Health and the School of Health-Related Professions. He holds a clinical position within the Division of Infectious Diseases, working in the fields of HIV and sexually transmitted infections and focusing on the connection between disease and the social determinants of health.

Dobbs earned his medical degree in 1996 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he also completed his residency in internal medicine and received a Master of Public Health in epidemiology. In 2005, he completed an infectious diseases fellowship at UAB.

Dobbs also served the MSDH as State Epidemiologist, Deputy State Health Officer and Regional Health Officer. As State Health Officer, he directed the state’s response to the COVID pandemic and its focus on addressing Mississippi’s health inequities. He has also held leadership roles nationally and internationally in the fight against infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis.

Board-certified in internal medicine and in infectious diseases, Dobbs spent part of his career at South Central Regional Medical Center in Laurel as vice president for quality and chief medical officer, while also working there as a clinician in internal medicine and infectious diseases.

His numerous honors include the Rural Health Award and the Mary Ann Sones Distinguished Leadership Award from the Mississippi Rural Health Association, PREPS Partner Award from the Program of Research and Evaluation for Public Schools, Presidential Award from the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, President’s Circle Award and Alfio Rausa Medical Care Section Award from the Mississippi Public Health Association, 2020 Regions TEACH Prize/Nelson Order Finalist at UMMC; and Aaron Shirley, MD Distinguished Indigent Care Award from the Community Health Center Association of Mississippi.

Dobbs holds membership and/or leadership roles with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, National Tuberculosis Controllers Association, Mississippi State Medical Association, and Mississippi Public Health Association. He is the co-author of numerous professional journal articles and several book chapters and has participated in dozens of presentations, including invited seminars/lectures.

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Dr. Christopher K. Folau

Dr. Christopher K. Folau, recently an orthopaedic surgery resident at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor of orthopaedic surgery in the School of Medicine.

Folau earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Touro University Nevada in Henderson, Nevada, in 2017. He has also served as Tissue Recovery Coordinator for Intermountain Donor Services in Salt Lake City, Utah, anatomy and physiology instructor in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology for the Utah College of Massage Therapy in Salt Lake City, and as an emergency medical technician in Wendover, Nevada.

A staff sergeant and 12-year veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves, he served as a combat medic for the 934^th Forward Surgical Team and 328^th Combat Support Hospital.

Folau is board-certified in basic life support, advanced cardiac life support and advanced trauma life support. He has participated in several research presentations and ongoing research projects and is the co-author of professional publications.

He is a member of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, AO Trauma, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Osteopathic Academy of Orthopedics, and American Osteopathic Association.

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Dr. Sanjana Kapoor

Dr. Sanjana Kapoor, recently a transplant nephrology fellow at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, New York, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of nephrology in the School of Medicine.

Kapoor earned her MBBS (MD) at DY Patil University in Navi Mumbai, India, in 2015 and completed an internal medicine residency at Maimonides Medical Center in New York. She is enrolled in the Master’s program of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (distance learning program), London, UK.

She completed a nephrology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania before completing her transplant nephrology fellowship.

Board-certified in internal medicine, Kapoor has served as an abstract reviewer for case reports for the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week. She is the co-author of a variety of research manuscripts, including several she contributed to as a member of the STOP-COVID Consortium.

Kapoor has to her credit many professional conference, poster and oral presentations.