Category: Public Service


Nurturing Beginnings: Dr. Alicia Barnes and Team Are Helping Create Healthier Communities for Children

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Dr. Alicia Barnes stands in a green dress indoors with green foliage in the foreground and a research poster in the background.

Memphis wasn’t on Alicia Barnes’ bingo card, but she saw an alignment she couldn’t ignore. The physician arrived three years ago, answering a listserv post from a colleague she had first met as a medical student at a national community psychiatry conference. She wasn’t actively looking. Yet when Altha Stewart, MD, posted about a leadership… Read More


NightinGala Marks a Decade of Honoring Mid-South Nurses

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Dean Wendy Likes stands beside nurse Leatriece Franklin, who's holding a blue, teardrop-shaped award.

“Never underestimate the power of showing up and serving others,” said Leatriece Franklin, MHA, MSN, RN, as she received the 2026 Dr. John W. Runyan, Jr., Community Nursing Award at the recent 10th annual NightinGala. The award recognizes a registered nurse practicing in Tennessee, Mississippi, or Arkansas, who has made significant contributions to the development… Read More


The CARE Team Shows Up Before the Crisis Does

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A medium-size group of people, including two police officers and CARE Team representatives, are gathered on the steps of a large, cement building.

If you notice a student seems off, showing up less, falling behind, acting out of character, the instinct can be to wait and see. Charles Snyder, PhD, vice chancellor for Student Success and co-chair of the CARE Team at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences, wants you to know there’s another option. “The problem is… Read More


837 Health Sciences Graduates Poised to Deliver Care Across Tennessee

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Portrait of Anna Hicks in a PT classroom.

Anna Hicks remembers the moment physical therapy started to feel real. “It’s really interesting to learn about somebody else, and that is PT, in a way,” she said. “You get to know these people, to really be a part of their lives, see their progress visit after visit, and see their confidence leaving the clinic.… Read More


UT Health Sciences Advisory Board to Meet Friday, May 8

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Photo of the Mooney Building in the quadrangle

The University of Tennessee Health Sciences Advisory Board will meet Friday, May 8, at 11:00 a.m., in the Mooney Library, 875 Monroe Ave., on the Memphis campus. On the agenda:  While the meeting will be conducted in person, it will also be available to view online. The webcast link, more information about the UT Health Sciences… Read More


Tennessee Leaders Gather in Memphis to Chart the Future of Rural Health

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Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. John Dunn speaks at a podium with his presentation and a red-lit curtain in the background.

Nearly 100 people committed to transforming rural health care in Tennessee gathered in Memphis Tuesday at the first Tennessee Rural Health Care Center of Excellence Innovation and Practice Conference. The event brought together leaders from across the state in policy, research, and practice, along with the seven organizations that received funding from the center’s first… Read More


Where Dental Care Isn’t Reaching, They Go

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Students in gray scrubs are standing together, waving at the camera, in front of two huge silos, one with a bald eagle on it and one with the UT logo on it as well as the phrase "Everywhere you look, UT."

Teresa O’Daniel was killing time. It was a stretch of downtime between visits to Margaret Newton Elementary School and a Lake County middle school, and she found herself scrolling through what health services might exist in the area surrounding Tiptonville, Tenn. A name she didn’t recognize popped up, a rural ministry. She called. The woman… Read More


$311 Million Approved for Construction of New UT Health Sciences College of Medicine Building

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The College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building rendering, showing a large building with many windows and a green space.

The Tennessee General Assembly Thursday approved the funding of $311 million recommended by Governor Bill Lee for the construction of a new $350 million College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences. The 275,000- to 300,000-square-foot building will be located on the Memphis campus on Madison Avenue, between the College of… Read More