The ASPBP March 2024 Webinar, IMPACT the RACE Introduction, will take place at 2 PM EDT on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. The Webinar will be led by Rakesh Patel and Loretta Jackson-Williams, both of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine.

Patel earned a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from St. Joseph’s University, and received his bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin in Kinesiology and Biology. After completing a Management Internship at Neurology and Pain Management Associates (Lillington, NC), Patel obtained a Hospital Administration residency position at UMMC in 2015. After completion of his residency, Patel went on to work in the UMMC Strategic Planning and Business Process Improvement departments, where he provided project management and process improvement support to many of the organization’s senior executives. In 2020, Patel moved to the School of Medicine, where he currently serves as the Director of Business Operations and as Program Manager for the IMPACT the RACE grant project.

Jackson-Williams has always been an educator at heart. Her passion for education has culminated with her current position as the Vice Dean for Medical Education at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. She began her journey in education because of her parents who were both educators in the Mississippi Delta. She grew up in Indianola, MS where she attended the public schools. In 1987 she completed her undergraduate studies at the historic Tougaloo College with a degree in chemistry. While in college she was engaged in the campus and local communities and became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. In 1994 she completed her studies at Boston University School of Medicine located in Boston, Massachusetts and earned a doctorate in biochemistry and a medical degree. While in Boston she continued to serve in campus and local communities as she developed advocacy skills as an elected officer for local, regional and national positions with the Student National Medical Association. From Boston she moved to California to complete residency in Emergency Medicine at Highland Hospital in the Alameda County Medical Center of Oakland, CA. After completing a year at Highland Hospital as an attending physician, she and her young family returned to their home state of Mississippi where she has maintained her focus on education in the Department of Emergency Medicine and as an administrator in the SOM.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024 - "IMPACT the RACE Introduction"
Improved Primary Care for the Rural Community through Medical Education

• Developed from a Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) grant awarded to the School of Medicine in 2020, the IMPACT the RACE Rural Track Program is geared to enhance rural medical education for students, with the goal to increase primary care physicians throughout rural communities in Mississippi.
• Focused to fulfill the primary care needs of rural Mississippi, by providing students exemplary education, hands on training, and exposure to these rural communities.

• Access to primary health care throughout rural communities in Mississippi.

• IMPACT the RACE is committed to enhance the education of all medical students by exposing the gratification and challenges within primary care in medically underserved communities in rural Mississippi.