UMMC Bower School of Population Health

09/11/2026

Six schools. One mission: better health through teamwork. 🚀

Yesterday’s Interprofessional Education Campus Welcome & Well-being Block Party brought students from across the University of Mississippi Medical Center together to connect, recharge and celebrate the collaboration that is central to health care and population health.

SOPH stayed in orbit with our space-explorers theme, reminding students that improving health across Mississippi takes all of us working together. Thanks to everyone who stopped by Mission Control!

09/10/2026

Community partnership in action at Jackson State University! At the 2026 BIG HBCU Wellness Festival, SOPH, the Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute at UMMC and UMMC School of Nursing bought HIV testing, prevention education and sexual health resources directly to students.

Was it worth it? With 80+ students engaged, 31 HIV tests and 1,000+ condoms and hygiene kits distributed, we sure think so!

SOPH is proud to support outreach that brings education, prevention and care into the community.

09/09/2026

Three SOPH students joined the first Group on Women in Medicine and Science ( ) Connect, Share, Advance event of the academic year.

Dr. David Josey led the session, “Tips for Teamwork,” giving participants an opportunity to learn and connect with colleagues from across the University of Mississippi Medical Center .

Thank you to the GWIMS Mentorship Committee for organizing the series and to our students for representing SOPH!

09/08/2026

AI expertise isn’t just something our faculty have. It’s something they teach. SOPH Data Science professor Yufeng Zheng, PhD, recently led a full-day workshop on building LLM applications with prompt engineering, including hands-on work with LangChain, pipelines, tool calling and AI agents. Participants could earn an NVIDIA Certificate of Competency upon successful completion.

These are the kinds of practical, high-value skills students can develop through the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Biostatistics and Data Science graduate programs. Ready to build expertise in one of today’s fastest-growing fields? Come learn from the people already doing the work. https://bit.ly/biostat-ds

09/04/2026

Mississippi has a new goal: 80% colorectal cancer screening among adults ages 45–59 by 2030. SOPH Assistant Professor Dr. Manju George, chair of the The Mississippi Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, helped lead the Roundtable’s 2026 meeting at the Mississippi State Department of Health this week.

Health professionals, advocates and community partners came together to examine Mississippi’s screening gaps, strengthen partnerships and launch — a statewide commitment to getting more Mississippians screened.

The need is clear. Only 38.4% of Mississippians ages 45–49 were screened in 2024. Everyone has a role to play.

09/02/2026

A strong research record doesn’t sustain itself! SOPH faculty gathered for “NIH Grants & IRB: What’s Changing?”, a Lunch & Learn with University of Mississippi Medical Center experts L.J. Daniels II and Felicia Clerk focused on changes affecting grant applications, funded research and human-subjects research.

Staying current matters, particularly for a school with a record worth protecting. During FY2025, SOPH accounted for 24 sponsored projects totaling nearly $6.5 million. Despite the School of Medicine having roughly 13 times the student enrollment of SOPH, we ranked second only to SOM in the number of sponsored projects.

Keeping up with the rules is part of keeping the research moving!

08/31/2026

It's August 31, but this Mississippi summer isn't close to over! Extreme heat is a population health issue – especially for older adults. SOPH’s Dr. David Buys, chair of the Department of Population Health Science, spoke with MPB News about the risks extreme heat poses to older Mississippians and the importance of looking out for those who may be especially vulnerable.

From health conditions and medications to social isolation and access to reliable cooling, a heat wave can expose the many factors that shape health beyond the doctor’s office.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting is MPB. Mississippi is Our Mission. Get the latest news on Tate Reeves, the Election and updates on Television, Radio and Online

08/28/2026

A little time away from the classroom goes a long way. SOPH students gathered at The Station JXN for pizza, conversation and a chance to connect outside the usual rhythm of classes, research and meetings.

Population health takes serious work, but building a strong school community makes all that work even more fulfilling.

08/27/2026

SOPH gathered today for Kickoff Connections, a meet-and-greet welcoming some of our newest faculty and staff.

David Buys, PhD — Chair and Professor, Department of Population Health Science
Sumedha Chhatre, PhD — Associate Professor, Department of Population Health Science
Ravi Jayadevappa, PhD — Professor, Department of Population Health Science
Rui Xu — Biostatistician, Department of Data Science
Caleda Cooper — Project Manager I

We’re glad to have their expertise, experience and perspectives joining the work happening across SOPH. Here’s to new colleagues, new collaborations and a strong start to the year.

Welcome to the Bower School of Population Health!

08/26/2026

Every doctoral journey starts somewhere. Today, SOPH PhD students in Dr. Rachel Tyrone’s Essentials of Population Health class began theirs with a deceptively simple question: What is population health science?

Students put their initial definitions on paper, establishing a baseline they’ll return to later as they reflect on how their understanding of the field has grown.

The research, ideas and advances that improve population health begin with questions like this.

What does population health science mean to you?