Dr. Ralph B. Vance’s term as president of the American Cancer Society may have ended, but his crusade against tobacco use – and secondhand smoke in particular – is far from over.

Vance, professor of medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the first physician from Mississippi to serve as ACS president, provided valuable information about the dangers of secondhand smoke to Jackson City Council members, who approved changes to the Ordinance of 2003 in June.

Section 86-161 of Article 6 of Chapter 86 of the Code of Ordinances for the City of Jackson bans smoking in all businesses except stand-alone bars effective February 2009.

After a month of use, Kevin Hollingshead still admires the lifelike appearance of his bionic hand. 

But it’s the way that his prosthetic hand functions that truly amazes him. 

With a contraction of muscles in his forearm, he can open and close his hand, extending each finger to form a variety of grasping patterns, from reaching for car keys to curling around a coffee cup. The movement is even more striking when a cosmetic glove, the same skin tone and appearance of his real hand, is used. 

Even the name of the device sounds like science fiction: i-LIMB, a prosthetic hand with individually powered digits. That’s what makes this prosthetic system different from the limited pinching motion of other prostheses.  

While Hurricane Gustav was bearing down on the Louisiana-Mississippi Gulf Coast, staff and volunteers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center were poised to take action.

Lessons learned while treating evacuees of Hurricane Katrina three years earlier helped University of Mississippi Health Care Disaster Relief Clinic administrators prepare for Gustav. By the time the Red Cross shelter at the Mississippi Trademart had begun to fill up with hurricane evacuees over the Labor Day weekend, physicians, pharmacy students and residents were available to help address medical problems and write prescriptions.

“We learned from Katrina of the dire need for services to manage common chronic diseases,” said Dr. Debbie Minor, executive vice chair of the Department of Medicine

Chancellor Robert Khayat asked faculty at the University of Mississippi Medical Center to exercise “honest optimism” while fulfilling the institution’s mission during the annual Fall Faculty Meeting Sept. 8 in the Norman C. Nelson Student Union.

Khayat said the faculty face many challenges in providing the finest quality education, conducting groundbreaking medical research and offering the best available health care in a state that consistently ranks on or near the bottom of the nation’s economic and health rankings.

“We have many challenges, and we have a world of opportunities we need to address,” Khayat said. “But the quality is here. The potential is here. And we have the opportunity to be on the right end of the list.”