New faculty join UMMC academic ranks

Published on Monday, July 31, 2023

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

Dr. Yanis R. Amrani

Dr. Yanis R. Amrani, recently a neurology resident in the Department of Neurology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of neurology in the School of Medicine. 

Amrani earned his medical degree at Faculte de Medecine de Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria, in 2014 and afterward did a rotating residency in neuro-oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. 

He also served as a general practitioner at the Fernane Hanafi Psychiatric Hospital, Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria. 

His memberships in scientific societies/professional organizations include those in the American Neurological Association and the American Academy of Neurology. He is seeing general neurology patients at the Medical Center. 

Amrani has poster several presentations and abstracts to his credit. Certified in advanced cardiac life support and basic life support, he has research interests in headache disorders and autoimmune diseases and their impact on the vascular system. 

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Zaria L. Neal

Zaria L. Neal, who recently completed her Master of Science in genetic counseling at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor in pediatrics-genetics in the School of Medicine. 

In Little Rock, Neal also obtained clinical experience at the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute (CARTI), providing cancer genetic counseling services there and at the UAMS Cancer Institute, among other duties. At the UAMS Health Women’s Center, she provided genetic counseling services in a prenatal setting, among other duties; and at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, her responsibilities included providing pediatric genetic counseling services. 

Her clinical experience extends as well to Medical City Dallas in Dallas, Texas, and, previously, at UMMC. 

She has worked as a volunteer with a number of organizations, among them the Arkansas Affiliate of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America; Arkansas Down Syndrome Association; and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northeast Louisiana. 

Neal, who has a variety of academic and leadership awards to her credit, has made a number of professional presentations related to the field of genetic counseling.  

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Dr. Nathan Tullos

Dr. Nathan Tullos, recently an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Mississippi College in Clinton, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an associate professor of advanced biomedical education in the School of Medicine.  

Tullos received his PhD in microbiology at UMMC in 2013 and served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physiology at UMMC from 2013 to 2014, the year he joined the faculty of Mississippi College. 

At Mississippi College, he designed or significantly redesigned many of the courses for both undergraduate and graduate students. Among the courses he taught were human gross anatomy, genetics, epigenetics, microbiology, infectious disease, bacteriology, and others. For the Honors College, he assisted in the development of a writing and research course. 

His leadership roles at Mississippi College and UMMC included course director, teaching mentor and research mentor for a variety of courses. His leadership experience is extensive, with service on a number of education, planning, faculty, academic, evaluation, elections, oversight, policy and other committees, councils or task forces. 

Tullos is the co-author of several professional publications and has a number of poster and other presentations to his credit.