Mississippi’s only academic medical center hopes to gain a national research designation that could improve outcomes for cancer patients in the state with the highest cancer mortality rate in the country. 

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has sought National Cancer Institute designation since 2012, a process it then expected to take five years, the Jackson Free Press reported at the time. Over a decade later, the medical center is again in the early stages of readying itself for an application.

“This is the top priority of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, with staunch support from executive leadership,” said Patrice Guilfoyle, a spokesperson for UMMC.

Guilfoyle declined to say what has prevented the cancer center from reaching its goal over the past 13 years beyond citing changes in leadership and the COVID-19 pandemic. But Mississippi Today spoke with former faculty members who said UMMC previously closed a critical program and lacked the institutional commitment necessary to achieve the status. 

The National Cancer Institute, a federal agency run by the National Institutes of Health, recognizes cancer centers that meet rigorous requirements for laboratory and clinical research and translate scientific knowledge into innovative treatments for patients. They also provide training for the next generation of cancer-care professionals and perform outreach to the community. Designated centers receive a support grant from the agency and have access to early clinical trials.

Studies have shown that patients treated at NCI-designated centers have lower mortality rates than people treated at non-designated cancer centers. 

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Mississippi, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mississippi’s cancer death rate is 25% higher than the national average.

Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the UMMC School of Medicine, wrote in 2022 that gaining the designation was an “ethical imperative.” 

She spoke again of its importance at a recent legislative budget hearing for the medical center.

“With Mississippi’s health outcomes in cancer being as terrible as they are, we are committed to working towards this NCI designation,” said Woodward Jan. 14. “It is the thing that will change cancer outcomes in Mississippi.”

There are 72 NCI designated centers nationwide, but none in Mississippi, Louisiana or Arkansas. Cancer patients in Mississippi seeking care at a designated center must travel to Memphis, Birmingham, Dallas or Houston. The designation was first introduced in the 1970s as a part of a national initiative to increase Americans’ access to cutting-edge cancer treatment. 

Achieving the designation will be a “long, heavy lift,” that could take as long as a decade, said Dr. Rodney Rocconi, who has served as director of UMMC’s cancer center since 2023. It will require the center to recruit faculty, expand its research capacity and demonstrate strong programming in community outreach and prevention.

The application process is like an “ultra marathon,” said Dr. Barry Sleckman, the director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the nation’s first-ever NCI designated cancer centers and the only one in Alabama.

The state Legislature increased its appropriation for the cancer center to $9 million for the current fiscal year – a nearly $5 million increase. The additional funding is being used for research infrastructure, clinical trials and to recruit researchers. 

UMMC has already made significant progress recruiting research faculty, according to Rocconi. In the past year, it has hired 14 faculty members of the 30 he estimates will be necessary to strengthen the center’s research programs and amass the requisite level of federal research grant funding for an application.

Many of the hired faculty members bring federal research grants with them, said Rocconi. A strong NCI designation application requires a cancer center to hold $10 million in cancer-related research funding, though some experts suggest twice that amount is needed. 

UMMC falls short of that benchmark. UMMC currently has $3.8 million worth of active federal National Institutes of Health cancer-related research grants, one major source of peer-reviewed cancer research funding, according to publicly available data. Just $500,000 of that funding comes from the National Cancer Institute itself, the most coveted funding source for aspiring NCI-designated cancer centers. 

These federal grants could be reduced due to a recent Trump administration policy that would cut the portion of National Institutes of Health grant funding available for overhead costs. The change has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. 

Dr. John Ruckdeschel served as the director of UMMC’s Cancer Center and Research Institute from 2017 to 2020. He previously led Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa to gain NCI designation in 1998 in seven years and helped the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit regain its NCI status. 

He hoped to do the same at UMMC, but retired in 2020 after becoming frustrated by what he said was the medical center leadership’s lack of support and funding aimed at helping the cancer center achieve the designation. The COVID-19 pandemic created another hurdle, one Ruckdeschel acknowledges was not the fault of the medical center. 

“It is, in fact, difficult to see that there is a genuine institutional commitment to cancer care and cancer research at UMMC,” he wrote in his resignation letter in 2020. 

The year he joined UMMC, the Legislature slashed its appropriation for the cancer center from $5 million to $4.25 million. Facing this financial setback, UMMC depended heavily on researchers’ grant funding to support the cancer center but did not invest sufficient resources to retain faculty members and keep an essential program open, Ruckdeschel said. 

Grant funding rarely covers the costs of researchers’ salaries and laboratories, Ruckdeschel wrote in a 2020 article about UMMC’s strategy for achieving NCI designation. So if more scientists are hired – even if they bring federal grants with them – the institution must dedicate resources to the center. 

“You have to make a pretty major commitment from the University,” Ruckdeschel said. “And they’ve just never been willing to do that.”

NCI-designated centers are required to have community outreach and engagement programming, which UMMC plans to house in the School of Population Health. The cancer center is currently in the process of hiring population health researchers who will direct outreach and engagement efforts, Rocconi said. 

However, in 2021 medical center leadership shuttered a program that would have fulfilled that requirement. The program focused on increasing cancer screenings, researching disparities in access to preventive care and exploring variables that impact access to cancer treatment in Mississippi, said Michael Stefanek, the former associate director of the program. 

The closure means community outreach efforts must be rebuilt from scratch, said Roy Duhe, one of the program’s former faculty members. “I saw no reason to close that program,” he said. 

A community outreach and engagement program is one of the more difficult requirements of a National Cancer Institute application to satisfy because it is unlikely to be funded by grants and requires significant institutional financial support, said Sleckman, the director of Alabama’s NCI-designated institution. 

Guilfoyle, a spokesperson for UMMC, declined to say why the program was eliminated, but said work to increase cancer screenings and research disparities in preventive care and access to cancer treatment are ongoing at the institution. 

The cancer center has outreach programming for lung cancer screenings, telehealth and chemotherapy symptom tracking. 

UMMC also plans to construct a new cancer center building – a five-story, 250,000 square foot facility – that will be housed on UMMC’s main campus and facilitate more collaboration between scientific research and clinical care. The medical center initiated a $125 million capital campaign last month and received its largest-ever donation of $25 million for the building. 

“The main focus and the main priority of UMMC is towards cancer,” Rocconi said. “…Our patients and our state need it.”   

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

House Chairman kills bill aimed at building Jackson casino, says votes weren’t there

by Michael Goldberg, Mississippi Today
February 26, 2025

A House chairman killed a proposal aimed at attracting developers to build a resort and casino in the city of Jackson moments before the full chamber was set to vote on it.

House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, made a successful motion to table House Bill 1879, as its sponsor, Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson, was answering questions from lawmakers concerned a casino in Jackson would bring unwanted competition to casinos in their districts.

“We didn’t have the votes,” Lamar said. “We felt like it was worth a conversation. Last year it got brought up in committee and didn’t get brought out of committee. This year it made it out of committee and got brought out to the floor,” Lamar said. “Anytime private investors are willing to invest hundreds of millions in downtown Jackson, we think that’s worthy of a conversation. That’s what happened today.”

Tabling the bill caused it to die with a Wednesday deadline.

A dejected Bell walked away after and declined to speak with reporters. Earlier Wednesday, the Ways and Means Committee quickly approved his bill and sent it to the House floor.

House Bill 1879 would have granted one gaming establishment already licensed in Mississippi the legal authority to build a casino in Jackson, in exchange for a minimum capital investment of $500 million for a resort inside downtown Jackson’s Capitol Complex Improvement District.

“This is an opportunity for the city of Jackson to take advantage of opportunities that have been passed over for several years now,” Bell said. “This act provides economic stimulus to the city of Jackson and developers who want to come inside the city of Jackson.”

The measure was the latest attempt in a yearslong push by some lawmakers to clear the way for casino in the capital city. Such efforts last year fizzled quickly in the Legislature after backlash from those who fear economic disruption of existing casinos, including some lawmakers and the Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association.

Under current state law, casinos can only be built along the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast, or on land owned by Native Americans. The House proposal would have changed that, allowing for a casino to be built within 6,000 feet, or about one mile, of the state Capitol building.

Proponents of the legislation said the legal authority to build a casino in Jackson, the most populous city in the state at the crossroad of three interstates, would be the primary draw for developers, not tax credits.

“A casino doesn’t need money to be incentivized to come here,” said Conrad Ebner, an accountant who helped draft the proposal. “The casino will do a market analysis and ascertain that they will make money.”

But opponents, including those in the casino industry, said such a move would give one casino an unfair monopoly over the most populated area of the state.

Speaking to reporters after he killed the bill, Lamar said there were already developers interested in building a casino in Jackson, and he expected the Legislature to try again next year at passing a similar measure if the developers were still interested.

“As far as I know, the developers interested in doing this don’t have any plans to go anywhere,” Lamar said.

Those behind the proposal said the plan was not to build a box casino, but a sprawling resort as well. The resort would include retail stores, restaurants, a spa, an RV Park and a hotel with hundreds of rooms.

In a letter sent to state officials last week and obtained by Mississippi Today, Rickey Thigpen, president of the tourism organization, Visit Jackson, said projections show such a casino resort could attract over four million visitors annually. It would create over 6,722 new jobs and bring in over $70 million per year to Mississippi’s economy, he wrote.

On top of the ability to build what proponents say would be a lucrative project, the bill also would have offered financial benefits to developers.

Beyond the casino, it would have also provided tax incentives for developers to restore blighted properties in Jackson. The incentives included a 25% tax credit for building costs.

The legislation aimed to ease the anxieties of other casinos around the state, who have long feared what increased competition from a Jackson casino could mean for their bottom lines.

Under the proposal, developers reinvesting at least $100 million at existing casinos would be eligible for a 10% tax credit, which could be claimed over three years. But the specter of economic disruption still loomed for some lawmakers who were scrambling to review the proposal on Wednesday.

House Minority Leader Robert Johnson represents Natchez, which is home to several casinos. Johnson said the state’s small casinos went through a laborious process getting off the ground, and that a Jackson casino could upend their businesses.

“I’ll do anything I can to help the city of Jackson, but I’m not going to destroy markets on the river,” Johnson said. “Jackson needs a lot of things. I don’t think a casino solves their problems.”

The legislation included a provision that would have made up for revenue shortfalls at casinos in Vicksburg. It did not do the same for Johnson’s Natchez district.

Bell, a fellow Democrat, said Jackson has been deprived of economic development opportunities enjoyed by other areas of the state.

“It’s interesting he would say that because the state of Mississippi has always swayed projects away from the city of Jackson,” Bell said. “So quite frankly, I don’t give a damn about what other casinos have issues with. I’m going to stand up for the city of Jackson. I don’t give a shit about who cares less about (Jackson).”

In 2024, another House measure to pave the way for a Jackson casino died after it caught the Senate, gaming regulators and the casino industry by surprise. That proposal appeared to give special treatment to an unnamed developer, which some speculated was tied to former Gov. Haley Barbour, who had recently pushed the casino development with state lawmakers.

This year’s bill was crafted to award the legal authority to build a casino in Jackson without favoring one developer, said Ebner, one of the proposal’s authors. Lamar told reporters that there were already unnamed developers interested.

Ebner said the measure would have been a much-needed economic boon to a struggling city.

“Unless they are going to move the capital city, the Legislature is going to have to start funding the Capital City,” Ebner said.

Another bill, sponsored by Lamar and seen at least in part as a shot at the casino lobby Lamar, would have increase taxes on Mississippi casinos from 12% to 16%. It also died with Wednesday’s deadline for passage.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Senate passes redistricting that puts DeSoto Republican, Tunica Democrat in same district, calls for 10 new elections

by Taylor Vance, Mississippi Today
February 26, 2025

Voters from 10 Senate districts will have to re-decide in November special elections who should represent them in Jackson, pending court approval, under a resolution the Senate approved on Wednesday. 

The chamber passed the plan 33-16. Two Democrats joined with the GOP majority to support the plan, while three Republicans joined with the Democratic minority to oppose it. 

Even though voters just elected members of the Legislature in 2023, the 10 races will be held again because a three-judge federal panel determined last year that the Legislature did not create enough Black-majority districts when it redrew its districts.

The panel ordered the state to redraw the districts and create a new majority-Black district in the DeSoto County area in the Forrest County area. 

Senate Rules Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, a Republican from Pearl, told senators that the newly redrawn map complies with federal law and will allow Black voters in the two areas to elect a candidate of their choice. 

“It’s not a partisan ordeal,” Kirby said. “We have a court order, and we’re going to comply.” 

The map creates one new majority-Black district each in DeSoto County and Forrest County, with no incumbent senator in either district. To account for this, the plan also pits two pairs of incumbents against one another in newly redrawn districts. 

The proposal puts Sen. Michael McLendon, a Republican from Hernando, who is white and Sen. Reginald Jackson, a Democrat from Marks, who is Black, in the same district. The redrawn District 1 contains a Black voting-age population of 52.4%. 

McLendon spoke against the proposal, arguing the process for was not transparent and it was not fair to the city of Hernando, his home city. 

“I don’t want to be pushed out of here,” McLendon said. 

The plan also puts Sen. Chris Johnson and Sen. John Polk, two Republicans from the Hattiesburg area, in the District 44 seat.  Polk announced on the Senate floor that he would not run in the special election, making Jonson the only incumbent running in the race. 

• The full list of the Senate districts that were redrawn are: 

• Senate District 1: Sen. Michael McLendon, R-Hernando, and Sen. Reginald Jackson, D-Marks

• Senate District 2: David Parker, R-Olive Branch 

• Senate District 10: Neil Whaley, R-Potts Camp 

• Senate District 11: New Senate district with no incumbent 

• Senate District 19: Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven 

• Senate District 34: Sen. Juan Barnett, D-Heidelburg 

• Senate District 41: Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall 

• Senate District 42: Sen. Robin Robinson, R-Laurel 

• Senate District 44:  Sen. John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, Sen. Chris Johnson, R-Hattiesburg 

• Senate District 45: New district with no incumbent 

McLendon and Sen. Derrick Simmons, a Democrat from Greenville, offered amendments that proposed revised maps, but both alternatives were rejected. 

Simmons, the Senate’s Democratic leader, opposed the plan the Senate passed Thursday because he does not believe any incumbent senators should be paired in the same district.

The House earlier in the session approved a plan that redrew five districts in north Mississippi and made the House district in Chickasaw County a majority-Black district. 

Sen. Kirby told reporters he believes the House and the Senate have a “gentleman’s agreement” to pass the other chambers’ plan, which has historically been the custom. 

Under the legislation, the qualifying period for new elections would run from May 19 to May 30. The primary election will be held on August 5, with a potential primary runoff on September 2 and the general election on November 4.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has no direct say in legislative redistricting, so once the Legislature passes a redistricting plan, it will go back before the federal courts for approval. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.