UMMC celebrates the graduating class of 2025
Published on Friday, May 23, 2025
By: Rachel Vanderford, rvanderford@umc.edu
Photos By: Joe Ellis, Jay Ferchaud and Melanie Thortis/ UMMC Communications
The University of Mississippi Medical Center held its 69th annual commencement on Friday, conferring nearly 1,000 degrees in medical sciences. A total of 964 graduates from the schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences, Population Health and Health Related Professions make up the UMMC class of 2025.
Hundreds of students walked across the stage at the Mississippi Coliseum to collect their diplomas in person. For some, it represented the first steps into their career—for others, a transition into the next chapter of their lives.
As Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor of health affairs, addressed the graduates, she reminded them that they are just turning the page.
"Today is an important day,” Woodward said. “This is a big milestone, but it’s not really the end of anything. Honestly, It’s a new beginning. As you go forward, you will continue to learn—from each other, from other health professionals and from the greatest teachers of all: your patients. Never lose sight of what a privilege that is.”
"As you embark on your career in health care, you share a common legacy of professionalism, commitment and passion with those who have come before you,” said Dr. Glenn Boyce, chancellor of the University of Mississippi. “In many cases, you walk in very big footsteps. We’re confident that you’re well prepared for your next steps of training or to assume your responsibilities as a health care professional in service to the people of Mississippi and to our nation.”
Dr. Wesley Zhang of Madison was among 158 School of Medicine graduates receiving the Doctor of Medicine degree. A first generation American born in Jackson to parents who immigrated from China, Zhang grew up hearing public health data at the dinner table—especially from his father, Dr. Lei Zhang, a biostatistician leading Mississippi’s gun violence prevention research at UMMC.
That early exposure shaped Zhang’s desire to pursue medicine, not just as a career, but as a vehicle for healing individuals and transforming systems. His next step: An orthopaedic residency at the Henry Ford Health Science Center in Detroit. Zhang has hopes to return to Jackson as a surgeon and academic, to build on his father’s legacy.
“I would love to use the lessons I’ve learned about agile community organizations and utilize the leverage of an academic center like UMMC to conduct research on improving the orthopaedic outcomes in the state,” Zhang said. “For example, improving transportation access or creating a trauma recovery institute that specifically helps underserved patients recover from traumatic injuries.”
School of Dentistry graduate Hailey Manning, who received the Bachelor of Science in dental hygiene, used her knowledge in screening for oral cancer to identify an unhealed lesion on her very first clinic patient—her mother.
“I had to explain to my mom what the words ‘squamous cell carcinoma’ meant,” Manning said.
“In her first appointment, I found a leukoplakic lesion, or a white patch, on the lateral border of her tongue. My mom came in at the two-week mark of having an unhealed lesion. Two weeks is considered a red flag for cancer. I documented measurements, photos and descriptions and highly suggested a biopsy to my mother. I remember being in the middle of a lecture and realized nobody but two professors knew that my mom was having a partial glossectomy, or part of her tongue surgically removed, from a single intraoral finding.
“This is intraprofessionally and interprofessionally groundbreaking for a dental hygiene student,” she said. “This was the moment I knew in my first week of starting clinic that that is a story for dental hygiene students, registered dental hygienists, educators, other health care providers, and the world to know the significance of dental hygienists in the dental office and health care field.”
Manning is one of 20 graduates receiving the Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene.
Other conferred degrees include:
School of Dentistry, 40 graduates receiving the Doctor of Dental Medicine.
School of Graduate Studies in Health Sciences, 122 graduates receiving either the Doctor of Philosophy or the Master of Science.
School of Health Related Professions, 161 graduates receiving either the Doctor of Physical Therapy, Doctor of Occupational Therapy, or Doctor of Health Administration; Master of Occupational Therapy, Health Sciences, Health Informatics and Information Management, Magnetic Resonance Imaging or Nuclear Medicine Technology; or Bachelor of Science in Radiologic Sciences, Medical Laboratory Science, Health Sciences, or Health Informatics and Information Management.
School of Population Health, 17 graduates receiving either the Master of Science in Biostatistics and Data Science, Population Health Science or Population Health Management.
School of Nursing, 447 graduates receiving either the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Nursing, or Doctor of Nursing Practice.
Among them was Dr. Melissa B. Jackson, the first School of Nursing graduate to complete the new concentration in nursing education and instruction as part of her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. The NEI concentration blends learning theory, evaluation methods and instructional strategies to prepare nurses for roles in staff development or future faculty positions.
This was Jackson’s third time to cross the stage as a UMMC graduate. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2014, she began working in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Medical Center while in school for her Master of Science in Nursing, which she completed in 2017.
Jackson had already decided she wanted to pursue the DNP so that she could one day mentor nursing students. So, when she learned about the NEI concentration in education, the decision was easy.
“It was only one extra class a semester," she said. “I wasn’t expecting to be the only person participating in correlation with the DNP program. I was the only student in my last class.
Balancing a full course load with a full-time job was challenging, but Jackson said she’s glad she did.
Seven students received top honors during the ceremony:
Ryan Rushing, Christine L. Oglevee Memorial Award for the outstanding School of Nursing baccalaureate graduate;
Dr. Katie Babb, Dr. Virginia Stansel Tolbert Award for the student with the highest academic average in the School of Health Related Professions;
Dr. Denton Garvey, Wallace V. Mann Award for the dental student with the highest academic average for four years;
Dr. Robert Wasson, Waller S. Leathers Award for the medical student with the highest academic average for four years;
Dr. Mengna Zhang, John D. Bower School of Population Health Award to recognize exceptional potential in the field of population health;
Dr. AmishaParekh, Robert A. Mahaffey, Jr. Memorial Award to recognize exceptional research potential of young investigators in the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.