Faculty member, student and video production grab national esteem

Published on Monday, June 3, 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.

Bibb attains HEAL scholarship from lifestyle medicine group

Dr. Kimberly Bibb, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, is a 2024 recipient of the Health Equity Achieved through Lifestyle Medicine (HEAL) Initiative Scholarship presented by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

The ACLM program presents a $3,895 need-based award to each recipient to cover costs associated with education and certification in lifestyle medicine.

According to the ACLM, the program supports “a diverse health care workforce” by offering the scholarships to clinicians underrepresented in medicine. This year, the grants amounted to more than $100,000.

The awardees identify as Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander or Indigenous. Their scholarships are intended to support research demonstrating that patients from minority backgrounds are more likely to have better health outcomes when their clinician shares their race and ethnicity.

“I am very grateful and honored to be a recipient of the ACLM HEAL Initiative Scholarship,” Bibb said.

“This opportunity will enable me to complete the requirements to become board-certified in lifestyle medicine, and as a result, will enhance my knowledge, skills and expertise to continue educating patients on the importance of healthy lifestyle interventions for the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases.

“As a HEAL Scholarship recipient, I will continue to pursue my passion to improve health equity and eradicate health-care disparities within my community.”

The Clinton resident earned her medical degree at UMMC in 2003 and completed her family medicine residency at the Huntsville Regional Medical Campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She joined the UMMC faculty in 2015 after serving in the Jackson area for several years as a staff physician and in private practice.

Board certified in family medicine and in obesity medicine, Bibb helped establish the UMMC Weight Management Clinic.  She was also a recent recipient of the Mid-Career Faculty Award from the Group on Women in Medicine and Science at UMMC.

As a HEAL scholarship winner, she was part of a group of honorees representing such institutions as Emory Healthcare, Baylor College of Medicine, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the University of Texas Medical Branch, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Morehouse School of Medicine and St. Jude Neighborhood Health Centers.  

“We are proud to fund 26 health equity champions this year,” Dr. Beth Frates, ACLM president, said in a statement.  

“We know that communities in need are at a higher risk for lifestyle-related chronic disease. .. [T]he awardees understand the need to address underlying factors, like food and housing insecurity, that exacerbate lifestyle-related chronic disease.”

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Medical student accepts honor from pathology group

John S. Overton, a rising fourth-year medical student at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, has won the Distinguished Medical Student Award from the College of American Pathologists.

The award goes each year to a medical student for outstanding achievement, aptitude or interest in pathology. It recognizes the recipient’s initiative in learning about pathology and participating in pathology-related activities.

Dr. Robert Brodell, professor and chair of the Department of Pathology at UMMC, praised Overton for his “focus on helping other students develop projects in pathology.

“John is known for arriving early and staying late, for focusing on a patient’s needs and for finding answers for patients during his rotations in pathology.”

Dr. Varsha Manucha, professor of pathology at UMMC, was “instrumental in providing information leading to John winning this award,” Brodell said.

Brodell also noted that there has been a “huge growth in numbers of students joining the Pathology Interest Group at UMMC, which he serves as faculty sponsor.

Overton, who is also a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at UMMC, was honored previously by CAP, in 2023, as a recipient of the organization’s Medical Student Travel Award, presented to deserving students as a stipend for travel expenses to attend the CAP Annual Meeting.

The Jackson resident, who grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, is a graduate of Millsaps College. He described what interests him about pathology: “Histopathological images are beautiful and exploring them under the microscope is the most captivating and enjoyable thing I've experienced in my medical training.

“On top of this, pathology offers a unique and powerful vantage point in medicine. Almost every sample taken from a patient will either pass through a lab that pathologists help manage or under their eyes at the microscope.

“With this perspective, pathologists are primed to use research, education and diagnostics to impact patient care on a scale that few other specialties possess.”

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‘All for Your Health’ production collects Telly Award

A video production company that produced the “All for Your Health” television spots for the University of Mississippi Medical Center won a Bronze Award in the 45^th annual Telly Awards competition.

JMills Entertainment, based near Salt Lake City, Utah, entered the “All for Your Health” spots in the  Hospital – Local TV category.

The Telly Awards competition, which each year draws around 12,000-13,000 entries for all categories, “showcases the best work created within television and across video, for all screens,” and honors “work from some of the most respected advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers from around the world,” its website says.

Entries come from six continents and all 50 states.

One “All for Your Health” spot is a montage of images filmed in various Medical Center settings and features health care workers, patients and students. The voiceover narration is just 25 words: “All of us. All working together. All the time. All over the state. All for you. University of Mississippi Medical Center. All for your health.”

Credits for the video are director, Jeremy Miller; producer, Talmage Cromar; editor, Peter Jodlowski; cinematographer, Ian Rigby.