Congratulations!

Our department is full of wonderful and engaging faculty, staff, and trainees who are being recognized on campus, in our community, and nationally for their outstanding work and character. We would like to start recognizing awards and achievements of everyone in the department in every issue of the newsletter.

Let us congratulate Dr. LaToya Mason for receiving the Diversity and Inclusivity Award from the Society of Obstetric Anesthesiology and Perinatology at this year's annual meeting.

Join me in congratulating several key members of our team who have achieved major milestones at UMMC:

15 years of service—Travis Vizier (CRNA), Matt Douglas (CRNA), Eric Leflore (Supervisor-Anesthesia Technician), Heidi Johnson (Nurse in the PAT Clinic), and Gwendolyn Varnado (Coder)

10 years of service—Genie Briggs (Director of Clinical Operations) and Ciara Wright (Anesthesia Technician)

5 years of service—LaShonda Strickland (CRNA)

Join me in congratulating Dr. Sara Robertson for being selected as an examiner for the Applied exam by the American Board of Anesthesiology. The ABA has a rigorous selection process and, more notably, she is now only one of three Applied examiners in the State of Mississippi.

Let us recognize Dr. Adriana Martini and Dr. Michelle Tucci for being nominated for the Early-Career Faculty Award and Dr. LouAnn Woodward Award respectively. I also want to congratulate Dr. Adriana Martini for graduating from the 2024-2025 Group on Women in Medicine and Sciences (GWIMS) Leadership Development Program. Both Drs. Martini and Tucci received this recognition at the 2025 GWIMS Awards Ceremony.

At the resident symposium, we had Judges pick the top three teams for their team projects. Please join me in congratulating the following team members who were voted as below for their outstanding work:

1st Place: “Antibiotic Stewardship Project” Team led by Dr. Brandon Grayson and Mahmood Torkaman. Other team members included Josh Irby, Drew Morgan, Brandon McDaniel, Jacob Risher, Megha Patel, Malik Williams, Olga Ostrovsky, and Suwarna Anand

2nd Place: “Beyond the Block: Long Term Follow Up of Peripheral Nerve Blocks” Team led by Luke Burnham and Rachelle Palmieri. Other team members included Jack Tharp, Walker Robison, Tate Crosby, Nick Smith, Ashton Swader, Landry Smith, Luiz Lima and Oscar Mendez.

3rd Place: “∙ Reducing Environmental Contamination from Inhaled Agents” Team led by Dulci Anuel and Hunter Roth. Other team members included John Campiche, Kelsie Huffman, Ruhi Randhawa, Krishna Shah, Nicky Rugnath, Alex Michelletti, Sara Robertson, and Ike Eriator