Foundation Board -- Welcome to Jackson Medical Mall

Aaron Shirley, M.D., Chairman of The Board

Dr. Aaron Shirley is Chairman of the Board for the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation and currently serves as Director of Community Health Services with the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Shirley has dedicated his life to others as a pioneer of rural and urban health care for the state of Mississippi. It is his commitment to this profession that inspired his vision for a one stop shop health care facility for the underserved. That concept became a reality with the Jackson Medical Mall, acclaimed as one of the nation’s most unique community health care endeavors.

Dr. Shirley took his pediatrics residency at the University of Mississippi in 1965 and was the first African American to accomplish this feat. In 1970, he helped to establish the Jackson Hinds Comprehensive Health Center which became the largest community health center in the state. He also established a comprehensive school-based clinic to provide health and counseling services to help reduce teen pregnancy, drug abuse, teen violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and mental health issues. The clinic became a national model for school-based clinics. Dr. Shirley is a graduate of Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, MS and Meharry Medical School located in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Daniel Jones, Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Systems and Chief Executive Officer of UHC

Daniel W. Jones, M.D., vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi (UMC) Medical Center, is the newest member of the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation (JMMF) Board of Directors. Dr. Jones replaces board member Dr. Will Ferniany, who has accepted the position of chief executive officer of the UAB Health System at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Jones has been listed in Best Doctors in America every year since 1996, and has published numerous research articles in journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Annals of Internal Medicine. A fellow of the American College of Physicians, he has focused his teaching and research activity on hypertension and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Jones is a member of the American Heart Association (AHA) Council for High Blood Pressure Research and a national spokesperson on high blood pressure. As president of AHA, Dr. Jones emphasized the need to reduce disparities in cardiovascular disease outcomes across geography, race, gender, and economics. He was the first principal investigator for UMC’s participation in the landmark Jackson Heart Study, an analysis of cardiovascular disease in health care and also a tenant of the Medical Mall, and has written a number of articles for the association’s journal. Dr. Jones has been UMC vice chancellor and School of Medicine dean since 2003. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Mississippi College in 1978 and received his M.D. from the Medical Center in 1975. He went on to become medical director at the Wallace Memorial Baptist Hospital in Pusan, Korea before coming to UMC to serve as assistant professor of medicine and director of clinical hypertension.

Reuben V. Anderson - Attorney, Phelps Dunbar, LLP

Mr. Reuben V. Anderson serves on the five-member board of directors that govern the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation. Anderson is a partner in the law firm of Phelps Dunbar LLP, and was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice in Mississippi. His career spans over three decades of legal service that includes the Jamie L. Whitten Chair of Law and Government at the University of Mississippi; Circuit Court Judge 7^th Circuit Court District; Hinds County Court Judge; Municipal Judge City of Jackson; Partner with Anderson, Banks, Nichols & Stewart; NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; Mississippi Associate Counsel. The Tougaloo graduate received his B.A. degree from the school in 1964 and his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1967.

Ronald Mason, Jr., Ph.D., President, Jackson State University

Dr. Ronald Mason, Jr. became president of Jackson State University, Mississippi’s only urban university, in February of 2000. President Mason brings a wealth of experience in higher education, community development, and legal expertise to the school. Prior to coming to Jackson State, he served as executive director of the Tulane-Xavier National Center for the Urban Community in New Orleans, Louisiana. He earned his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Columbia University. Dr. Mason is also a graduate of the Harvard Institute of Educational Management.

Beverly Hogan, President, Tougaloo College

Dr. Beverly Wade Hogan made history when she became the first female president of Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi. Hogan was appointed to the post after serving just one month as interim president. President Hogan held numerous high profile positions in state government prior to returning to her alma mater where she was the director of the George and Ruth Owens Health and Wellness Center. She received her B.A. in psychology from Tougaloo College and a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Jackson State University.

Dr. Wallace Conerly, University of Mississippi Medical Center

Dr. Wallace Conerly, vice chancellor for health affairs emeritus and dean emeritus of the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, served as the Medical Center’s chief executive officer from August 2, 1994, to June 30, 2003. His legacy included a dramatic increase in the budget, a multimillion-dollar endowment, new alliances that enhanced research and solid progress toward a more ethnically diverse environment. “He took the Medical Center to places we never dreamed and forged alliances that will benefit this state for generations to come,” said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, Dr. Conerly’s successor as the Medical Center’s CEO. A native of Tylertown, Dr. Conerly received a B.S. with honors in 1957 at Millsaps College and a M.D. in 1960 at Tulane University. He did special training at the U.S. Air force School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, took a fellowship in medicine in the Section of Cardiology at Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, and took a residency in internal medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. His medical practice is in the field of chest medicine and critical care. As the chief executive officer of the state's only academic health sciences center Dr. Conerly led a 7,200 employee institution with an annual budget of more than $610,000,000. He was the chief architect of the Medical Center's ongoing expansion program. Phase I, completed in 1999 included a new children's hospital, a new women and infant's hospital, a building for the School of Health Related Professions, an addition to the School of Nursing, a student union, two parking garages and an imaging center. Dr. Conerly served in the U.S. Air Force for more than six years, and was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1966 at the rank of major. Dr. Conerly is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians. In August 2002, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson appointed him to a four-year term on the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine. He is the first Mississippian to serve on the prestigious body. In recognition of his many contributions to Mississippi, Governor Ronnie Musgrove declared March 19, 2003, “Wally Conerly Day in Mississippi.” Dr. Conerly and his wife, France Conerly, are the parents of two sons, Al and Charlie, and the grandparents of two grandchildren, Chase, eight, and Ann Marie, three.