People: Staff News


Teacher Finds Her Path to Dentistry Through Students She Served

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In a high school classroom, Hannah holds up a gift of a toy apple that says #1 teacher on the box, with science posters in the background.

Hannah Black spent her first year teaching high school science without a teaching license. She had signed up to be a substitute teacher while her husband completed graduate school in Knoxville. But when the phone rang, the school district had a different proposal. “They said, ‘Hi, you have a degree in science, right? Do you… Read More


Tennessee Rural Health Care Center of Excellence Announces $1.75 Million in Grant Awards to Agencies Across the State

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Higher Ground's director and operations manager hold a banner in front of the company

From East Tennessee to West Tennessee, the Tennessee Rural Health Care Center of Excellence at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences is enabling providers to close health care gaps in rural communities statewide with $1.75 million in grants announced today. Established in 2025 with a $12 million grant from the Tennessee Department of Health, the… Read More


Japanese Scholars Visit One-of-a-Kind Nursing Theory Center at UT Health Sciences

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The visitors from Japan gathered with Professors Gill and Langford in front of a portrait of Dr. Newman.

A nursing theory that originated at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center has made a major impact worldwide, especially in Japan. Followers of this theory traveled from Japan to Memphis recently to visit the Dr. Margaret A. Newman Center for Nursing Theory, established at the UT Health Sciences College of Nursing in 2023. There… Read More


Proving the Naysayers Wrong: Trailblazing Thoracic Surgeon Dr. John Howington Shows Grace Under Fire

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Dr. John Howington's headshot with his white coat and stethoscope on.

When someone is a cardiothoracic surgeon, has authored publications, held leadership and teaching roles, presented internationally, been listed in “Best Doctors in America,” trail-blazed cancer prevention and treatment, and helped raise a family, you might think that person grew up surrounded by degrees and overflowing with confidence. “Kind of the opposite,” says John Howington, MD,… Read More


Let Go: Researcher Adapts to Stresses of Life Through Yoga

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Dr. Colleen Jonsson sits cross-legged on a yoga mat in a studio.

On one of the first sunny days last spring, virologist Colleen Jonsson, PhD, sat outside her office building at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences, face up to the sun. “You have to get your sun,” she says to a passerby. The Harriet S. Van Vleet Chair of Excellence in Virology in the Department of… Read More


Resident and Fellow Research Drives Patient Care Forward

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The Research Day award recipients standing on a stage between the organizers and holding their certificates.

When rheumatology fellow Dr. Hira Imran meets one of her lupus nephritis patients, she knows the greatest challenge ahead of them will be figuring out which treatment will work best. Physician trainees at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center are asking clinical questions in the morning and finding answers by evening that will help… Read More


Dr. Aman Bajwa Awarded $3.7 Million to Develop Early Detection Test for Kidney Damage

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Headshot of Dr. Aman Bajwa

Aman Bajwa, PhD, professor of Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center has been awarded a multi-principal investigator R01 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. The five-year, $3.7 million award supports a groundbreaking project titled, “Utilizing Resazurin Fluorescence to… Read More


Tennessee’s First Brain Bee Comes to Memphis, Nurturing a New Generation of Neurologists

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A student and an adult listen to a professor in a white coat while she points to bright green, blue, and yellow images printed on large pieces of shiny paper laying on desks.

Last Saturday morning, 25 Shelby County high school students came to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center campus in Memphis to compete in the state’s first-ever Brain Bee. Not all arrived believing a career in medicine was possible. By day’s end, they could picture themselves as the person in the room who had the… Read More