Congratulations!

Published on Monday, December 30, 2024

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.

A big congratulations to Dr. Michelle Tucci for receiving initial funding of $50K through the Mid-South REACH (Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub) program, which is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded program that extends across four states: Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. The grant is for furthering the coating technology for suture, mesh, and barriers that has been developed right here at UMMC.

Congratulations to Dr. Lakshmi Kurnutala who was recently selected as a Trailblazer Award recipient for the academic year 2023-2024. The School of Medicine gives the Trailblazer Award each year to honor faculty members committed to excellence in teaching, innovation in education, and excellence in serving on the faculty. Unique to this award is that the selection process is completed entirely by faculty and chosen by peers and colleagues.

Dr. Adriana Martini was selected for the 2024-2025 Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) Leadership Development Program. The program involves a series of lectures and seminars over the next several months. All program graduates will be celebrated at the Annual GWIMS Award Ceremony on Thursday, May 15th, 2025.

Let us congratulate Dr. Ike Eriator for authoring a piece in the ASA Monitor on the “Ethics of Ending”.

Congratulations to the recipient of the Heather Taylor Memorial Award, Jamye Pollard, DNPS! Each year an SRNA is given this award who demonstrates diligence, excellence, and dedication to the field of anesthesia while encompassing compassion, benevolence, and virtue towards patients and colleagues.

We have several UMMC service anniversaries that need to be congratulated:
• Darrell Dozier—Lead Anesthesia Tech—30 years of service
• “Big John” Jones—Supervisor-Anesthesia Technician—25 years of service
• Jonathan Vaughn—CRNA and DNPS Coordinator—10 years of service
• Dr. Oscar Alberto Alam Mendez—Division Chief of the Acute Pain Service—5 years of service
• Dr. Caroline Walker—Division Chief of the Adult CT Anesthesia service—5 years of service
• Mesha Stokes—Business Analyst—5 years of service
• Dalton Hamilton—Anesthesia Technician—5 years of service