New faculty join UMMC academic ranks
Published on Monday, July 14, 2025
Medical Center leadership is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff.
Dr. Lauren Asters
Dr. Lauren Asters, recently the program director for the Associate Degree Nursing Program at Itawamba Community College in Fulton, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of education in the School of Nursing.
Asters earned her BSN at Mississippi University for Women, her MSN in nursing education at the University of North Alabama in Florence, and, in 2024, her Doctorate of Nursing Practice at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.
Asters’ clinical experience includes service as a staff RN in Tupelo for North Mississippi Health Services and for Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi.
As an educator, she served as adjunct instructor, then as instructor, for the ICC’s AD Nursing Program before becoming program director in 2024.
A member of the Organization for Associate Degree Nursing, Asters has received awards recognizing her excellence in scholarship and education. As a researcher, she has contributed as both author and co-author to two scholarly presentations.
– – –
Lauren A. Holcomb
Lauren A. Holcomb, recently a nursing instructor in the Associate Degree Nursing Program at Itawamba Community College, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor of nursing in the School of Nursing.
Holcomb received her ADN from Itawamba Community College, BSN from Mississippi University for Women and, in 2023, her MSN-Nurse Educator from the UMMC School of Nursing.
She currently holds part time positions with Med-Serve Urgent Care Clinic and the North Mississippi Medical Center Medical Intensive Care Unit in Tupelo. She has served as a staff nurse and clinical nurse educator in critical care stepdown for NMMC and for Sanctuary Hospice House in Tupelo.
During her career, Holcomb has received a variety of honors and awards for her achievements as a scholar, educator and clinician. She is a Bower’s Scholar recipient within UMMC, and has received Daisy Awards and nominations, as well as nominations for Mentor of the Year and Rookie of the Year within her time at NMMC. Her professional qualifications include certification by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale.
– – –
Dr. Ana Carolina Mieko Omoto
Dr. Ana Carolina Mieko Omoto, recently a research assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of physiology and biophysics in the School of Medicine.
She received her Master of Science in biological sciences, in 2015, and her PhD, in 2019, in physiology from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship, in 2022, in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at UMMC. Before joining UVA, she served for three years as an instructor of physiology and biophysics at UMMC.
Her areas of expertise include cardiovascular and integrative physiology. She has earned numerous honors and awards for her achievements in scientific research and serves as a journal reviewer, grant reviewer or editorial board member for a number of professional journals or institutions.
The recipient of grant support for several scientific investigations, she has made oral presentations and served as an invited speaker at a variety of professional meetings and seminars in the U.S. and in Brazil. A focus of her research program is the discovery of bioactive factors that mediate inter-organ communication and regulate cardiac function and metabolism following ischemic injury.
She is the author and co-author of more than 30 published manuscripts and more than 30 published abstracts. She also co-authored chapters in notable books in the field of cardiology.