Pediatric Update Newsletter - Winter 2023 - University of Mississippi Medical Center

A Message from the Chair

2023 will be a bright new year for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, with exciting developments in all of our mission areas.

Run the Rainbow for Children's planners include, from left, Katie Sanders, Louise Dove, Jason Dill, Shannon Hoover and race director Selena Daniel, all of the Department of Pediatrics at UMMC.

Inaugural Run the Rainbow for Children’s 5K, 10K and Half Marathon is March 18

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Run the Rainbow for Children’s will take runners and walkers through downtown Jackson and, for 10K and half-marathon routes, through Belhaven and past the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower at Children’s of Mississippi. Each route will have surprises along the way, and the event ends with an after-party at Hal & Mal’s. Registration is now underway.

Patient Kaeden Thigpen of Hattiesburg talks with pediatric pain clinic RN-care coordinator Shannon Armstrong.

Pain management clinic new addition to Sanderson Tower

Monday, February 20, 2023

For children and adolescents with chronic pain, the pediatric pain clinic at Children’s of Mississippi can provide relief through multidisciplinary care. Strategies such as cognitive behavioral therapy and physical therapy can help children miss fewer days of school and lead more active lives.

In Memoriam: Remembering Dr. April Palmer

Dr. April Lynne Palmer, professor and chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UMMC and a physician who garnered respect nationally and abroad for her expertise in medicine and research, died Jan. 26 after a sudden illness. She was 59. Palmer joined the Medical Center faculty in 1996, becoming a division chief in 2000.

The renovated waiting area of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders is shown in this architectural rendering from CDFL.

Significant renovations coming for Children’s of Mississippi’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Updates that will add more space, privacy and comfort to the infusion area and will increase the number of exam rooms will add up to a better experience for patients of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s of Mississippi and their families.

David and Priscilla O'Donnell of Ridgeland have made a gift toward updating Children's of Mississippi's Batson Tower.

O’Donnells make $1.5 million commitment to renovations of Children’s of Mississippi Batson Tower

Monday, February 13, 2023

Priscilla and David O’Donnell of Ridgeland will create a cardiac step-down and medical-surgical floor inside the Batson Tower, part of planned renovations of the seven-story tower. The couple made a $1 million donation in 2017 to create the Priscilla and David O’Donnell Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Cardiac Wing in Children’s of Mississippi’s Sanderson Tower.

Pediatric neurologists Dr. Jay Thompson and Dr. Josh Cousin are both graduates of Oak Grove High School and the School of Medicine at UMMC.

New pediatric neurologists hail from Oak Grove, School of Medicine Class of 2015

Monday, November 14, 2022

Dr. Jay Thompson and Dr. Josh Cousin, voted Most Intellectual in their Oak Grove High graduating classes, took different paths that led to the same place: the Division of Pediatric Neurology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where they earned their M.D.s.

$1M gift from Friends of Children’s Hospital creates Evans Chair of Pediatric Neurology

Monday, February 27, 2023

The Dr. Owen B. and Lynn M. Evans Chair of Pediatric Neurology was created to honor UMMC’s second chair of pediatrics and the dedication of the couple to children’s health. Dr. Colette Parker, chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurology, will be the first to hold the honor.

Sanderson Farms Championship host organization donates $1M to benefit Children’s of Mississippi

Dr. Wilfred Q. Cole Jr. and his wife, Gwen, are pictured here in 1998. Their estate gift of $640,000 will have a far-reaching impact on the University of Mississippi and its Medical Center, where the physician spent the majority of his medical career.

Estate gift from Coles bolsters pediatrics department

A longtime Jackson, Mississippi, physician and his wife left an estate gift of $640,000 to the University of Mississippi and the University of Mississippi Medical Center to support the training of pediatricians and strengthen allergy-immunology education, patient care and research and provide library resources — all of which will have a long-lasting impact.

Friends of Children’s Hospital volunteers decorated Children’s of Mississippi for the holidays inside and out. HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier and their daughter Helen flipped the switch on the 25-foot Christmas tree in front of the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower during BankPlus Presents Light-A-Light.

Holidays are bright at Children’s of Mississippi

While no one wants to be in the hospital on Halloween or during the holiday season, celebrations at Children’s of Mississippi make special days brighter for our patients. Reverse trick-or-treating, celebrating our neonatal patients’ first Halloween, and Bank Plus Presents Light A Light, the traditional Friends of Children’s Hospital program that starts our holiday season, brought joy to patients and their families.

Winter 2023