Health Sciences.

Fifty-five abstracts were submitted to the Health Sciences division at the sixty-fourth annual meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, February 2000. There were 43 student platform and poster presentations, as well, as 12-platform presentations by established investigators. The presentations included such diverse topics as sustained drug delivery systems, dental and orthopedic implants, clinical studies involving women with postmenopausal bleeding and cervical cancer research, and community based health projects. Platform and poster presentations involved an average of 40 attendees per session. We were very pleased that a large number of students submitted their work to the Academy for review. Thirty six entries were from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, three entries came from each of the following schools: Delta State University, Alcorn State University, Jackson State University and the University of Mississippi. Two entries from Millsaps College and one entry from each of the followin g schools: University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi University for Women and Belhaven College. Also, there were a total of five high school students that submitted abstracts to the competition. This year we were fortunate to offer cash awards in addition to the certificate for the best papers in five different categones. The awards consisted of the Douglas Walker Award for best overall poster or platform presentation and first, second and third place in the categories of dental/medical, graduate, allied health, undergraduate and high school. A total of ten judges (two judges per category) evaluated the published abstracts, the platform presentations, and poster presentations by the students. The student awards were sponsored by the Douglas Walker endowment and Microtek Medical, Inc from Columbus, MS. As chair of this year's Health Sciences session, I would like personally to thank Mr. Lester J. Berry of Microtek Medical, Inc for the generous donation. This year the student presentations were exceptiona lly good, as reflected by the closeness of the Judge's scores and the various comments made by the judges and attendees. The level of subject knowledge and professionalism displayed by each presenter was most notable, and I am pleased to report the award winners for the Health Sciences Division. The overall Douglas Walker Award was given to Ms. Daphanie D. Webster, an allied health student, from The School of Health Related Professions at UMC. The title of her presentation was "The effect of polychlorinated biphenyl on RAW 264.7 cells." Ms. Webster's research was performed under the mentorship of Dr. Hamed A. Benghuzzi. The winners of the dental/medical category were 1st place Brad Roberts, 2nd place Kendall P. Brown, and a two-way tie for 3rd place Ashley McArthur and Steve Arnold. The winners of the graduate category were 1st place Keith Stokes, 2nd place Melissa P. Daniel and 3rd place Kenneth Butler. The winners of the allied health category were 1st place Mi Jung, 2nd place Kevin Blake and 3rd place Marl ene Harris. The winners of the undergraduate category were 1st place K. L. Alford, 2nd place Keyanna Mitchell, and 3rd place Kristi McGillivray. The winners of the high school category were 1st place Philip Eichhorn, 2nd place Ayesha Alam and a three way tie for 3rd place Robert Triplett, John Bullock and Kimberly Cornelius. The Health Sciences division will continue to foster and encourage research, especially at the different student levels. I hope the student participation at next year's meeting in Tupelo will be even better.

During the Health Sciences divisional meeting Dr. Aaron D. Puckett from UMC Dental School was elected as chair and Dr. I. O. Farah from JSU was elected as vice-chair. The divisional meeting resulted in one action item, the formation of a student competition committee, consisting of Dr. Margot Hall, Chair, Dr. Michelle Tucci, Dr. Larry S. McDaniel and Ms. Zelma Cason as members. The purpose of the committee is to establish permanent guidelines for the student competition and administrate the competition at future meetings. The chair, the vice chair and committee will be charged with soliciting donations to support the competition.

It was a pleasure to serve over the past two years in the capacity of chair and vice chair of the Health Sciences division of the MAS. Working with Dr. Aaron D. Puckett, this year's vice chair, and the former chair, Dr. John Piletz, to plan and carry out the divisional meeting and the research competition for the students was a most enjoyable and memorable experience.