New faculty join UMMC academic ranks

Published on Monday, September 9, 2024

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

Dr. Kimberly Holt

Dr. Kimberly Holt, recently a senior physical therapist at St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of physical therapy in the School of Health Related Professions. 

A graduate of Alcorn State University, Holt earned her Master of Physical Therapy and, in 2010, the Doctor of Physical Therapy at UMMC. She also served as a clinical instructor in Rehabilitation Services (acute care) at St. Dominic starting in 2007. 

Holt has delivered a variety of clinical skills presentations on such topics as early intervention in the ICU, community caregiver support, safe patient handling and more. She has continued pursuing professional training through the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). 

Holt has presented on the state level with emphasis on acute care and early mobility in the intensive care unit.  

She has an extensive record of community and professional service. For three years, she served as a member of the alumni board of the UMMC School of Health Related Professions. Currently, she is a member of the APTA and the MPTA. She served nationally on the Membership Engagement and Leadership Development task force with the APTA. 

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Dr. Varun Sardar

Dr. Varun Sardar, recently an interventional cardiology fellow at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of medicine-cardiology in the School of Medicine. 

Sardar earned his medical degree (MBBS) in 2014 at Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Government Medical College, Kolhapur, India, before his internal medicine residency at UMMC, where he also completed a fellowship in cardiology and was named Cardiology Fellow of the Year in 2022. He then completed a fellowship in advanced heart failure/transplant cardiology at the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center/Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Following this, he returned to UMMC and completed an interventional cardiology fellowship. 

Sardar has made a number of poster and oral presentations at scientific meetings, conferences and other events. He gained research experience in cardiology and internal medicine at UMMC and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. At UMMC, he treats patients with coronary artery disease and advanced heart failure. 

He is a member of the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and Heart Failure Society of America.

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Dr. Caley Cobb Stogner

Dr. Caley Cobb Stogner, recently a practical nursing instructor at Holmes Community College, Ridgeland campus, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of nursing instruction in the School of Nursing. 

Stogner, who also served recently as an adjunct clinical instructor-BSN level at Mississippi College in Clinton, earned the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2023. Previously, she served as transplant coordinator-living donor at UMMC and as an RN in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit before joining Hinds Community College as a practical nursing instructor.  

She has made several presentations, including poster abstracts, at professional conferences and other events, and is the author of several professional publications. 

Her community service includes membership on the Northwest Rankin High School Science Advisory Board. 

Stogner is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, the Golden Key International Honour Society, the Mississippi Nurses Association and the Alabama Chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.