Faculty and Resident Awards, Honors, and Distinguished Presentations

Faculty Awards and Honors

In September of 2021, it was announced that Dr. Robert Brodell was elected to serve as the new president of the American Dermatological Association. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Brodell for this prestigious honor! More information can be found here.

In June of 2021, Dr. Brodell was selected as a 2021 recipient of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor medallion. The Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professorships are awarded every five years to celebrate an individual’s scholarship and serves as an inducement for them to continue their academic work for the institution. More information can be found here.

Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professors pictured from left to right; Drs. Richard Roman, Alan Jones, Barbara Alexander, and Robert Brodell.

In July of 2021, Dr. Brodell was tapped by the International League of Dermatological Societies’ board to receive its Certificate of Appreciation for Humanitarian Dermatology. Dr. Brodell was nominated by the American Dermatological Association for this award, which goes to outstanding individuals who have given lifelong dedication to particular aspects of dermatology far beyond what one would expect of a dermatologist in his or her normal practicing life. More information can be found here.

Dr. Vinny Nahar was selected as a recipient of the 2021 Journal of Osteopathic Medicine Social Determinants of Health Research Award for his article, “Associations Between Stress, Anxiety, Depression, and Emotional Intelligence Among Osteopathic Medical Students.” You can link to this article by clicking here.

Drs. Robert Brodell, Adam Byrd, and Vinny Nahar recently published the first textbook ever written considering the full range of issues related to the problem of access to Dermatological care in rural areas of the United States. More information can be found here.

Alabama Dermatology Symposium

Three UMMC Dermatology residents recently presented at the 2021 Alabama Dermatology Symposium in Destin, FL. Dr. Sarah McClees presented a case related to a 12-year-old female with a persistent pink plaque on her cheek, and histopathology showed a low-grade B-cell lymphoma. Primary cutaneous B-cell lymphoma in children is very rare but carries an excellent prognosis. Her patient was treated with intralesional triamcinolone with marked clinical improvement at 1 month. Dr. Joshua Ortego presented the Dermatologic Under-Represented Minority Initiative (DURM), a creative solution to the difficult challenge of increasing minority representation in our field. By meeting with African-American and Hispanic students during medical school, providing guaranteed, expenses-paid away rotations, and adding a dedicated residency position, UMMC is answering the call to provide opportunity and increase diversity in our specialty. Dr. Ross Pearlman's presentation focused on his continued efforts to implement the AAD's Dataderm Initiative in our department.  DataDerm is dermatology's Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) for CMS. This program represents dermatology's attempt to use "Big Data" to improve the quality and value of patient care. Data generated by DataDerm participants will be used to create CMS MIPS benchmarks for quality and evaluate practice progress towards these benchmarks.  UMMC Dermatology is now the first academic dermatology program to successfully map DataDerm quality improvement initiatives into our electronic health record as well as the first department to gather data using Epic. Dr. Pearlman was awarded the 2^nd place prize for his presentation.

American Academy of Dermatology Summer Meeting

Drs. Ortego and Pearlman also presented alongside Dr. Jeremy Jackson at the American Academy of Dermatology August, 2021 Summer meeting in Tampa, FL.  Their presentation was entitled, Improving Access to Care in Rural America.  

Pictured from left to right; Drs. Jeremy Jackson, Joshua Ortego, Ross Pearlman, and Robert Brodell at the American Academy of Dermatology August, 2021 Summer meeting in Tampa, FL.

Dr. Pearlman’s topic, First Integration of DataDerm at an Academic Medical Center Using Epic Electronic Health Records, was awarded the American Dermatological Association’s 2021 Dermatology Resident/Fellow Research Award.

CME Questions of the Week for the AAD

In addition to their normally busy schedule, Ira Dan Harber, Jordie Ivey, Molly Webb, Colleen Drapcho, and Hannah Badon wrote questions for the American Academy of Dermatology “Question of the Week” over the past year.  They have contributed 15 questions so far and Jordie, Molly, Colleen, and Hannah are continuing to do so after Ira Dan’s graduation. This is an incredibly successful initiative providing excellent and practical CME to thousands of AAD members.

2021 Dermatology Symposium

On October 22, 2021 members of our department presented our annual symposium for Primary Care Practitioners which was presented both in person and virtually by practitioners in our region or other states. Lectures provided were as follows:   

• A Few Skin Infesctions for the Primary Care Provider. Byrd A.
• Skin Pathology: What to Bipsy, When, Where, and why AND What Do All Those Terms Mean? Cruse A.
• A Late Night Call from the Emergency Department. Noble A.
• Medical Errors and How Can We Prevent Them. Helms S.
• Interesting Cases and Clinical Pearls. Jackson J.
• Update: Skin Cancer. Doo C.
• Unusual Presentations of Two Common Dermatologic Diseases. Ivey J.
• The Punch in Primary Care! Brodell RT.
• Hidradenitis Suppurativa –A Stubborn Disease. Flischel A.

Please join us in congratulating our faculty and residents for their hard work and outstanding accomplishments!