In 1972, just three years shy of the University of Mississippi Medical Center's 20th birthday, members of the University of Mississippi Alumni Association on the health sciences campus established the Guardian Society. They could see the handwriting on the wall: fiscal belt tightening by state government, dwindling federal revenue sources coupled with a growing demand for health professional education and health care services.

The Guardian Society was to be the premier support for the special needs that appropriated funds could not provide. It was to help maintain that margin of excellence for which the young Medical Center already had a reputation.

The original Guardians have seen their plans become reality. The institution's commitment—to teach the healers, tend the sick and seek answers through research—didn't come with a limited warranty. Contributions through the Guardian Society, which have grown dramatically in its short history, show faith in that promise. Its donors know that a gift to the Medical Center is an investment in Mississippi's future.

The two-year medical program on the Oxford campus —established in 1903— was expanded to a full four-year school complete with teaching hospital and graduate programs when the University of Mississippi Medical Center opened in Jackson in 1955. The Department of Nursing achieved school status in 1958, the School of Health Related Pro-fessions was established in 1971 and the School of Dentistry was added in 1974. The graduate program was elevated to school status and designated the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Science on July 1, 2001.

Through each of its educational programs, the Medical Center has filled gaps in Mississippi's health care manpower.

Nearly half of all practicing physicians in the state are our graduates. Two-thirds of the dental school graduates stay at home to practice, and the vast majority of those practice in towns with populations of fewer than 3,000. Before 1971, there was a drastic shortage of allied health professionals in the state, and only seven percent of those who worked in the state had any sort of professional credentials and licensure. Now these vital allied health professionals work all over the state, and 95 percent have passed licensure and credential requirements. The nursing school was the first in Mississippi to offer the baccalaureate degree as well as the master's in nursing to prepare teachers of nursing for all the state's nursing programs.

The Medical Center is doing its job. But simply getting the job done has never been the style of things on the health sciences campus. The center's educational programs offer Mississippians career training marked by rare quality and excellence. Medical students consistently get their choice of residency placements in the national Match program; and the high caliber of the medical applicant pool in Mississippi indicates that prospective students know they'll learn to be good physicians here.

Students in the School of Health Related Professions have repeatedly won top national awards in their disciplines. Nursing students likewise are routinely elected to positions of leadership including offices in the National Student Nurses Association. Students in the School of Dentistry have a better than 96 percent pass rate on the state board exam— one of the best records for any school in the nation— and students receive national and international awards for research and community service annually.

Twenty-six former graduate students in physiology head physiology departments around the world; and six presidents of the American Physiological Society have been our graduates.

The institution's partnership with the Guardian Society can be credited with much of this excellence. The society provides the extra support for our programs and the flexibility to move quickly to respond to needs.

The Medical Center depends on the support of its graduates. More than 1200 society members have been responsible for a total infusion of $12.47 million to our teaching programs. These unrestricted gifts have proven indispensable in scholarships, fellowships and loans for students; continuing education; the updating of obsolete equipment; library acquisitions; and in the endowment of chairs and lectureships such as the Arthur Guyton Chair of Physiology, the Winfred L. Wiser Chair of Gynecologic Surgery, the James D. Hardy Chair of Surgery, the Patrick H. Lehan Chair of Cardio-vascular Research and the Herbert G. Langford Professorship in Medicine.

This support is essential, and increasingly so. In 1992-1993, the state contributed 26 percent of the total Medical Center budget. In 2002-2003, approximately 17 percent of the institution's total budget came from state appropriations.

Membership in the Guardian Society is a way for graduates to assist the Medical Center in its pursuit of excellence. Each member is also a trustee in the society and is directly involved in the fiscal allocations of unrestricted funds to each professional school.

Engraved stainless steel portraits of Guardian members hang in the School of Dentistry, the School of Nursing, the Alumni House and the School of Health Related Professions where new portraits are added as members enroll.

MEMBERSHIP

The Options

A Guardian Society membership is carried in the name of only one individual. Members may be alumni, friends, organizations or anyone who wishes to invest in excellence.

1. Cash Gifts: A minimum of $500 annually for 10 years, or a lump sum payment of $5,000 for medical and dental alumni.
Nursing and health related professions alumni pay $250 annually for 10 years or a lump sum payment of $2,500.
Payments may be paid by check, VISA® or MasterCard® or by UMC payroll deduction. All contributions to the Medical Center are tax deductible in accordance with the law.

2. Deferred Gifts: A gift in the form of a will, bequest, trust or permanent life insurance constitutes a future or planned gift which is acceptable for membership as long as it meets the minimal giving requirements.

3. Marketable Securities: A gift in the form of appreciated securities may be given and capital gains taxes avoided, resulting in a larger tax deduction for the donor.

THE STATE OF THE CENTER

In contrast to many academic health sciences centers around the country, the Medical Center is poised to thrive in the changing health care environment.

The largest expansion project in the Medical Center's history, totaling $211 million, was completed in 1999. The project included a new children's hospital (the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children), a women and infants' hospital (the Winfred L. Wiser Hospital for Women and Infants), an imaging center, two parking garages and a student center (the Norman C. Nelson Student Union).

A second construction phase is now underway. It includes a critical care hospital, already occupied, a new 256-bed adult hospital, now under construction, a two-story expansion of the children's hospital, a classroom addition and an expansion to the Arthur C. Guyton Research Complex. When the adult hospital is completed, all of UMC's original hospital beds will have been replaced.

The Medical Center's research program has expanded significantly in recent years since the campuswide Office of Research was established in 1998. Medical Center faculty now receive nearly $37 million every year in extramural funding.

The National Institutes of Health, for example, chose Jackson as the site of its only long-term study of risk factors for heart disease in the African-American population. UMC, Tougaloo College and Jackson State University are partners in the study that will bring millions to the Jackson area in contract funds.

General Electric chose the Medical Center as one of three sites nationwide to have the first of its interventional MRIs. The new imaging system allows physicians to do procedures while viewing images in real time. Investigators here have used the technology to pioneer new procedures for treating cancerous tumors.

The Medical Center has leased and renovated space in the Jackson Mall for its outpatient services. UMC is the anchor tenant in the Jackson Medical Mall—a totally new concept in health delivery.

Renovation for the Medical Center's new cancer institute—which will occupy 150,000 sq. ft. of space at the mall—is currently underway. The institute's clinics, phase 1 of the project, will open in summer, 2003.

The Medical Center's goal is to obtain National Cancer Institute designation as a comprehensive cancer center within 10 years.

A state-of-the art computer network links health professionals all over the Medical Center complex, whether they're in the Mall, in the Batson Hospital or in an externship across the state.

Thanks to years of good stewardship and responsible use of available resources, the Medical Center is experiencing unparalled growth and development.

Guardian members hold stock in the most exciting enterprise in the state.