Mission

UMMC's three-part mission is to educate the next generation of health-care professionals, research the diseases affecting humanity and to provide high-quality health care to Mississippians and people in the Southeastern U.S.

A major goal of the Medical Center is the elimination of differences in health status of Mississippians based on race, geography, income or social status.

Purpose:

The 1950 Mississippi Legislature enlarged and strengthened health professions education in Mississippi by enacting bills to establish and construct the Medical Center in Jackson as part of the University of Mississippi. The School of Medicine and graduate program enrolled students in 1955; the School of Nursing moved from the parent campus to Jackson in 1956; the School of Health Related Professions was established in 1971; and the School of Dentistry admitted its first class in 1975.The graduate program was elevated to school status in 2001 and designated the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center unites the interrelated activities of education in the health sciences and accepts responsibility for teaching, research, service and leadership in this field. Its programs embrace training for physicians, dentists, nurses, and related members of the health team; graduate medical education; graduate dental education; graduate study in the health sciences; and the delivery of health care in the teaching hospitals and clinics. The Medical Center offers equal opportunity in all its programs and services regardless of race, sex, color, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability or veteran status.

The parent campus, the University of Mississippi chartered in 1844, has five areas of focus in its current Statement of Purpose. One of these is health. "The University will continue to provide the professional education of those who deliver and administer human health services and those who perform research aimed at improving the efficiency, the effectiveness, quality, and availability of health care. . . ."

Within this framework, the Medical Center's principal and continuing purpose is to accomplish the interrelated goals of health professional education for Mississippi: to teach in a superior manner the art and science of health care to students of exceptional promise and talent; to provide high quality treatment for all patients using the disciplines and specialties of modern health care; to lead the way to discoveries which will raise the health level of Mississippians and, indeed, all mankind; to foster dedication to life-long learning; to respond to community needs through continuing education and outreach programs that extend beyond the campus; and to recruit and retain the caliber of faculty necessary to meet these goals. The Medical Center fosters and protects an intellectual, emotional and challenging learning environment conducive to educational excellence in the health sciences, productive scientific investigation and exemplary patient care and moves toward the ultimate goals of improved health and well being for the citizens of Mississippi, the region, the nation and the world.

Mississippi's population is culturally diverse. Most Mississippians trace their ancestral roots to the British Isles, the continent of Europe or the continent of Africa. The state also has many citizens of American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander and Hispanic descent. In policy and practice, the institution encourages and actively recruits applicants from all segments of the state's population. The Medical Center is committed to maintaining an educational environment that fosters respect for and sensitivity to individual differences; promotes personal and professional development; and gives all students the opportunity to succeed, regardless of ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status.

Medical Center graduates at all levels are expected to possess and to demonstrate the skills and knowledge necessary to practice their disciplines as competent health professionals. The Medical Center regularly uses appropriate external and internal measurement tools to assess the institution's effectiveness in training health professionals for Mississippi and to evaluate its programs for patient care, research, continuing education and outreach.

The expeditious growth of the Medical Center into a major academic health sciences center reflects the deep commitment of the State of Mississippi, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning and the administration and faculty of the University of Mississippi Medical Center to the continuing fulfillment of this statement of purpose.learning in Mississippi. The Medical Center's chief executive officer is the vice chancellor for health affairs.