Christopher Jackson, MD, was inspired by his grandparents to pursue medicine, especially his grandmother, who was a nurse. “She was the first person in my life who told me I could be a physician, and after she passed away, I wanted to pay homage to her desire for me to be a part of health care in some way,” Dr. Jackson said.
Dr. Jackson was recently installed as the 118th Southern Medical Association (SMA) president, becoming the association’s first Black president.
“Being president allows me to guide where their educational programming will go and how we develop the next generation of clinicians who are educators and leaders in the communities and places they find themselves in,” Dr. Jackson said.
He is an assistant dean of Student Affairs, vice chair of Education for the Department of Medicine, associate program director for Curriculum, and associate professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Medicine. He also practices as an Internal Medicine physician at Regional One Health.
“Being the first Black president of this organization, I can call attention to making sure that we are educated on the varied lived experiences of different patients and our colleagues, not only with health care concerns but also things such as mentoring and advising, when it comes to professional development and advancement,” Dr. Jackson said. “To be able to say, whether you talk about access and engagement, we’re trying to create a world where everyone can thrive, not just a select few. I feel proud to say that in our education, we should make sure that we’re not just calling out disparities but also putting out our best practices to help deal with them.”
The Southern Medical Association’s mission is to improve the quality of patient care through multidisciplinary, interprofessional education. As the 2023-24 president, Dr. Jackson said a primary goal is to help further the association’s innovative continuing medical education that meets the needs of diversifying patient groups and health care professionals.
“Wanting to innovate and create a leadership development program that will hopefully allow students and residents to learn what it takes to become an effective leader, and to create a generation of leaders that will go into their local areas and institute chance,” he said.
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