Hayden Claire Coleman, recently a certified speech language pathologist working with brain injury patients at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery in the School of Medicine.
After earning her Bachelor of Science in communication sciences and disorders in 2018 at the University of Mississippi, she completed her Master of Science in communicative disorders in 2020 at Jackson State University.
Coleman worked previously at UMMC for Children’s Rehabilitative Services before joining Pine Forest Health and Rehabilitation in Jackson as a speech language pathologist for the geriatric population. Afterward, she worked at MRC with adults who had experienced traumatic brain injuries.
Her patients have included those with language, cognitive, swallowing and voice disorders. She has provided outpatient feeding therapy and clinical feeding evaluations for children, conducted swallowing studies for infants and children, and provided speech, language, cognitive and dysphagia therapy for the geriatric population.
She has also worked at Baptist Adult Day Health Services in Jackson and with adult acute care patients at UMMC.
Dr. Bibhuti B. Das, recently a clinical professor at the Temple, Texas, campus of the Baylor College of Medicine, has joined the Medical Center faculty as a professor of pediatrics-cardiology in the School of Medicine.
Das received his MBBS in 1990 from MKCG Medical College in Berhampur, India. In India, he also completed a residency in pharmacology and a senior residency in hematology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, and his residency in pediatrics at S.M.S. Medical College in Jaipur.
In the U.S., he completed a residency in pediatrics at Lincoln Medical & Mental Health Center, Bronx, New York, and a fellowship in pediatric cardiology at Children’s Hospital of Colorado in Denver. He also received an MBA in health care management from Soules College of Business, University of Texas at Tyler, and a Master of Health Administration from Purdue University Global.
In Temple, Texas, he also recently served as chief of pediatric cardiology and director of adult congenital heart disease at Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Medical Center.
His other previous appointments include professor of pediatrics at UMMC, where he was also director of cardiomyopathy, heart failure and heart transplant; associate professor of pediatrics and pediatric and adult congenital heart disease cardiologist at Texas Children’s Hospital Austin Specialty Care Clinic; pediatric heart failure and transplant cardiologist at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Heart Institute, Memorial Health Care, in Hollywood, Florida; associate professor of pediatrics and director of the Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program at Children’s Health, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas; and assistant professor of pediatrics, as well as director of the Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program, at the University of Louisville.
Das, who is the recipient of several clinical, academic and scientific research awards, is board certified in general pediatrics, pediatric cardiology and adult congenital heart disease. He has served as principal investigator on a variety of research projects and as a reviewer or an editorial board member or editor for a variety of scientific publications of journals.
He has made approximately 50 invited international and national presentations. A contributor to two book chapters, he is also the coauthor of more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers. He has collaborated on multiple research studies with other institutions and has participated in several innovation and commercialization projects.
Das is a member of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Dr. Poonam C. Sharma
SharmaDr. Poonam C. Sharma, recently a post-doctoral fellow in clinical microbiology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of pathology in the School of Medicine.
Sharma earned her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree at Grant Government Medical College in Mumbai, India, before receiving her MD in medical microbiology at the Dr. S. C. Government Medical College in Mumbai. In 2023, she completed her PhD in microbiology and immunology at UMMC.
Sharma, who has served in India as a medical officer and as an assistant manager/medical advisor, has held several teaching, clinical and administrative appointments at UMMC.
She is the coauthor of approximately 20 research publications and a book chapter, and has made a number of scientific presentations at international, national and statewide conferences and meetings in India and the U.S.
She is the recipient of a variety of honors and awards for her achievements as a clinician and scholar. A certified international specialist in microbiology, Sharma is a member of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology and the American Society for Microbiology.