2001: Graduate students get new home
Published on Monday, November 25, 2024
By: Gary Pettus, gpettus@umc.edu
During its 69-year history, the University of Mississippi Medical Center has made contributions to the state, and the world, in medicine, science and education. Each month, we’ll recognize at least one of these major accomplishments.
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SGSHS students fill the Norman G. Nelson Student Union gymnasium with their poster presentations during the school's annual Research Day in October.
The UMMC School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences (SGSHS) in Jackson, a vital training ground for biomedical researchers, health care professionals and educators, was established by the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning. But its origin story goes back 69 years. In 1955, when UMMC opened, two students enrolled in graduate classes – but, unlike the medical curriculum, graduate programs would remain on the University of Mississippi’s Oxford campus, under the auspices of the Graduate School, for more than 45 years. In 2001, many of the Medical Center’s graduate programs were consolidated; the new SGSHS on the Jackson campus established the first dean’s position and began accepting trainees. Starting in 2006, the school experienced exponential growth in student enrollment under then-dean, Dr. Joey Granger. The school’s current dean, Dr. Sydney Murphy, oversees more than 200 graduate faculty and, currently, 243 students. SGSHS is now home to 13 educational programs. Its offerings include a graduate certificate program in molecular medicine and a MD-PhD program for future physician-scientists. Researchers are investigating preeclampsia and such diseases as Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular and renal illnesses, cancer, dementia, obesity, diabetes, as well as infectious diseases.