From the Chair

When 2020 began, we could not have imagined the events that would unfold and the challenges that we would all face professionally and personally. We sincerely hope that you and your families are safe and well, and will remain healthy through the crisis brought by COVID-19.

Although the education, research and service missions of our department changed dramatically in March 2020, our faculty and trainees made a remarkably rapid and successful transition to delivering educational instruction and learning via web-based platforms. Our research laboratories rapidly changed operations to ensure safety of lab personnel but most investigators were able to continue their research programs, using appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and scheduling to avoid having too many people in the same place at the same time. The UMMC Center for Comparative Research, under the direction of Dr. Andrew Grady, provided PPE and maintained operations of the laboratory animal facilities despite many challenges. Like many academic health science centers with major hospitals, UMMC was forced to make difficult financial decisions and implement mitigation plans that resulted in large reductions of our department budget, which we hope will be temporary.

Despite these challenges brought by the COVID-19 crisis, the Department of Physiology and Biophysics had many successes during 2020. Our education programs continue to receive high ratings, our graduate students and fellows continue to receive many awards, our faculty continue to publish important discoveries in top journals and receive highly competitive extramural research funding, and our faculty and staff continue to provide outstanding service and leadership for professional organizations and for UMMC.  I am delighted that we remain as one of the top physiology departments in the country through outstanding research, education and service contributions. 

We hope that the brief summary in this newsletter of the extraordinary activities and productivity of our faculty, fellows, students, and staff this past year provides useful information, as well as a welcome respite.

It is a great privilege to work with such talented, resilient, and dedicated colleagues who continue to make us proud to be part of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

With best wishes for a happy, healthy and productive new year,

John E. Hall, Ph.D.
Arthur C. Guyton Professor and Chair,                                                          
Director, Mississippi Center for Obesity Research