UMMC faculty, staff garner national recognition

Published on Monday, April 15, 2024

By: Gary Pettus, gpettus@umc.edu

Medical Center faculty and staff often are recognized regionally, nationally and internationally for their academic or medical achievements. These accolades place UMMC among health science centers worldwide.

Guilfoyle elected to AAMC group steering committee

Patrice Guilfoyle, APR, director of communications at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, has been elected to serve on the 2024-25 Steering Committee for the Group on Institutional Advancement with the American Association of Medical Colleges.

The GIA comprises alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and public affairs professionals from member academic medical institutions. It develops and disseminates resources, best practices, educational opportunities and peer-to-peer connections for members to aid in their professional growth and development.

Guilfoyle will serve as vice chair for communications, marketing and public affairs for the next year.

“I am honored to represent UMMC and work alongside my colleagues from across the country to develop strategic communications and marketing practices that will help our institutions meet challenges in health care, education and research,” she said.

“It’s important to share Mississippi’s unique health care story with peers and to learn best practices that will further enhance what we are doing to tell that story inside and outside the state.” 

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Shawky granted prestigious award for research excellence

Dr. Noha Shawky (Elsayed), assistant professor of pharmacology/toxicology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, is the recipient of the 2024 Dean Franklin Young Investigator Award from the American Physiological Society, one of the society’s most prestigious and competitive honors.

The award, sponsored by Harvard Bioscience, “recognizes a researcher performing in vivo physiological research and establishing an independent laboratory,” the APS website says.

Shawky is one of the honorees was recognized during the American Physiology Summit, held April 4-7 in Long Beach, California.

“I am thrilled to be recognized by a scientific society that I consider as home for my research,” Shawky said.

“I am also so grateful to my lab members, colleagues and collaborators whom I consider as my UMMC family and who are a main part of this success.

“And, last but not least, I am thankful to the support I get from my family to be able to dedicate time and effort towards my passion for research.”

Shawky also thanked her UMMC mentors, Dr. Jane Reckelhoff, professor of pharmacology/toxicology; Dr. Barbara Alexander, Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor of physiology and biophysics; and Dr. Birdie “Babbette” LaMarca, professor and chair of pharmacology/toxicology.

“Dr. Shawky is an innovative junior faculty member who is contributing to all of UMMC’s missions with much excitement and commitment,” LaMarca said.

“Her work in models of polycystic ovarian syndrome and its effects on offspring born to these women is highly relevant to their clinical regimen and will provide insight into long-term health for these mothers and their children.”

Shawky, who received her PhD in pharmaceutical sciences, pharmacology from the School of Pharmacy at Mansoura University in Egypt, is the previous winner of a number of notable honors, including several from the American Heart Association: the Career Development Award and the Trainee Advocacy Committee Poster Award, among them.

“My current research focus is the impact of maternal hyperandrogenemia (as a model of maternal polycystic ovary syndrome) on the offspring’s cardiovascular health as they age,” Shawky said.

“It is an area of research that still needs a lot of work to fill the gaps in our knowledge, and I am very excited to be part of this and continue contributing to this research area at UMMC.”

The American Physiological Society is a global community of more than 10,000 biomedical scientists and educators; its mission is “to advance scientific discovery, understand life and improve health.”