About Us
Welcome from the Chair
I am privileged to serve as chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The department was first established more than 70 years ago with a focus on community and population health. After several years of inactivity, it was reestablished in 2015, and I have led it since. From this restart, our vision has been to leverage our collective expertise in clinical prevention, public health practice, and population research to identify and implement real-world solutions to the most important health challenges facing Mississippi.
We are unusual to have a home in two schools, the School of Medicine and the John D. Bower School of Population Health, an arrangement that suits a field devoted both to caring for individual patients and to improving the health of entire communities. Our research reflects that breadth, from clinical studies of individual patients to population-level research and community interventions. It is supported by several million dollars in extramural funding each year from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration and private foundations. A growing share of that work focuses on implementation, so that approaches proven to work are put into practice in Mississippi communities. Our GIS and Remote Sensing Program, directed by Dr. Fazlay Faruque, brings geographic analysis to questions of population health.
In clinical care, our Lifestyle Medicine Clinic shows our commitment to innovation. Since opening in 2017 under the leadership of Dr. Josie Bidwell, it has grown to more than 6,000 patient visits each year. Patients are cared for by an interdisciplinary team that includes physicians, nurse practitioners, registered dietitians, exercise physiologists, mental health professionals and others. The team helps patients prevent and manage chronic disease through sustainable changes in daily habits. We also offer a Diabetes Prevention Program, led by Dr. Abigail Gamble and recognized as a "full-plus" program by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The department also operates Student and Employee Health, a vital service to the institution led by Dr. Brian Williams. It serves more than 10,000 employees and more than 2,000 students, keeps the Medical Center compliant with regulatory requirements, and protects employees and learners from workplace hazards. As with Lifestyle Medicine, SEH is a place where our resident physicians learn and train.
In 2016, the department launched the Medical Center's first large-scale well-being effort, Everyday Wellness. Two years later, that effort became UMMC's Office of Well-Being. I served as its first director, and since 2024, it has been led by Dr. Bidwell. It now operates independently and serves the entire institution.
Teaching is integrated into nearly everything we do, from our research and clinics to our partnerships across the state. Our Public Health and General Preventive Medicine Residency, directed by Dr. Williams, has held full accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education since its inception in 2017 and is one of the largest civilian programs of its kind in the country. Residents train in clinical settings and with the Mississippi State Department of Health, and each completes a Master of Public Health. Our faculty also teach in the Master of Public Health, Master of Science in Population Health Science and PhD in Population Health Science programs. For medical students, we direct the evidence-based medicine curriculum and offer clinical electives throughout the year. Every UMMC medical student also cooks and learns in the John D. Bower Center for Culinary Medicine, directed by Dr. Caroline Compretta, who also serves as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research.
None of this would be possible without the dedicated faculty, staff, residents and students who make up our department. In 2026, Forbes ranked UMMC No. 2 on its list of America's Best Employers for Healthcare Professionals, and we are striving to make the Department of Preventive Medicine the best place to work within the Medical Center. I am proud of what we have built together, and I look forward to continuing our work to improve the health of people in Mississippi and beyond. Please come and join us!
Joshua Mann, MD, MPH
Chair
Professor