Promotions and Tenure

Please help the department congratulate Drs. Alam Mendez, Amolenda-Frazier, Duncan, Do Nascimento, and Sturdivant on their academic promotion to Associate Professor! All four anesthesiologists have worked tirelessly in the areas of service, education, and research.

Oscar Alam Mendez, M.D.
I was born in Valencia, Venezuela, where I graduated from medical school. After working for one year in a rural area, I decided to pursue a career in anesthesiology in the United States. After completed an internship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, affiliated with Columbia University, I started and graduated from the anesthesiology residency program at the University of Florida's Jacksonville campus. There, I also completed a fellowship in regional anesthesia and acute pain management. In 2019, I joined the University of Mississippi Medical Center as a full-time anesthesiologist, where I continue to work today.

Patricia Amolenda-Frazier, M.D.
Dr. Patricia Amolenda was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. She graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Santo Tomas. She then pursued her medical degree at the same university and graduated magna cum laude in 2011. Before immigrating to the US, Dr. Amolenda took her Philippine Medical Licensure Exam where she placed 8th place out of 1,684 examinees. She moved to the US after matching to anesthesiology residency at UMMC. During residency, she discovered her passion for pediatric patient care and completed her pediatric anesthesiology fellowship training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio.

Dr. Amolenda is a board-certified physician in anesthesiology and pediatric anesthesiology. She has been an assistant professor at UMMC for 2 years. She is part of pediatric acute pain team, SSI committee and wellness committee.

During her spare time, Dr. Amolenda loves to spend time with her family: her husband Josh and three children.

Forrest Duncan, M.D.
Forrest Duncan was born in Durham, NC and raised in Greenville, SC. He attended Furman University graduating in 2009 with a BS in biology. Following graduation, he attended medical school at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. During his time in medical school he met his future wife, Kelsey Walsh. They married and graduated medical school in 2013, before moving to Jackson, MS for their residencies.

Forrest completed his anesthesiology residency at UMMC in 2018, and went on to complete a pediatric anesthesiology at Children's of Mississippi in 2019 before joining the faculty at UMMC as an assistant professor of pediatric anesthesiology. Forrest serves as a resident lecturer, has published and presented on various topics in pediatric anesthesiology, serves on the Children’s of Mississippi quality and safety committee, and is currently participating in research into applications of telemedicine in anesthesia.

Forrest’s wife, Kelsey, is a practicing neurosurgeon at NewSouth NeuroSpine. They’ve made their home in Jackson, where they have two adorable cats, Fitzgerald and Emerson. In their free time they enjoy traveling out of the country, especially to Iceland. Forrest is an avid reader and also enjoys video games, music, and spending time with his family.

Claudio Cesar Do Nascimento, M.D.
Dr. Do Nascimento earned his medical degree at Universidade Federal de Goias, Brazil. He completed his anesthesiology residency at Universidade Federal de Goias, Brazil. He then served in private practice in Brazil from 2001 to 2015. He finished anesthesiology residency training at Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University, Michigan, from 2015-19. Subsequently he completed a critical care fellowship training at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, from 2019-20. He served as Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at University of Mississippi Medical Center from 2020-2025.