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. 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 was a 1993 recipient of the MacAuthur Fellowship, also known as the “Genius Award.” He received the Governor’s Initiative for Volunteer Excellence, or GIVE, Award in 2009. That same year, the Mississippi Medical and Surgical Association honored Dr. Shirley for changing the course of history at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, later naming his contributions to health and the community as “The Shirley Society.” Always making an impact on those who need it most, Dr. Shirley constantly looks for ways to advance health in underserved communities. He is currently working on establishing “health houses” in the Mississippi Delta.

Dr. Shirley is a graduate of Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, MS and Meharry Medical School located in Nashville, Tennessee. He is married to Ollye Shirley. They have four children.

Dr. James Keeton, Interim Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, University of Mississippi Medical Center

Dr. James E. Keeton is the newest member of the Board of Directors for the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation. Dr. Keeton replaces Dr. Daniel Jones, who was appointed to Chancellor of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi.

In addition to serving as Interim Vice Chancellor, Dr. Keeton is also professor of surgery and pediatrics at UMMC. He previously served as Chief of Staff to Dr. Jones. Dr. Keeton is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is certified by the American Board of Urology.

The native Mississippian graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1961 and earned his M.D. four years later at UMMC. He completed five years of residency in urology at UMMC, followed by one year of pediatric urology residency in London, England. He, then, served as Lieutenant Commander for two years in the Medical Corp U.S. Navy. Dr. Keeton returned to Mississippi in 1970, and has been in academic medicine and private practice ever since.

He and his wife, Jona, live in Jackson. They have two children and four grandchildren.

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.

Regina Quinn May, General Counsel, Jackson State University

Regina Quinn May is Jackson State University’s (JSU) first African-American General Counsel. May replaces Dr. Ronald Mason, Jr., who recommended she join the Board.

May is the first of her kind in the state of Mississippi. She is the only African-American and the only woman to serve as general counsel with a university or college in the state. As chief legal counsel, her primary function is to provide legal oversight and advice on matters involving the university. She gives advice to department heads and to the President of JSU, Dr. Mason.

May has had a distinguished career in the field of law for the state of Mississippi. She started as Special Assistant Attorney General back in 1988, then served as legal counsel for the Department of Finance and Administration and the Mississippi Veterans Home Purchase Board. In 2001, Governor Ronnie Musgrove appointed May as commissioner for the National Commission on Uniform State Laws. May founded a real estate development company called I.Q. Development Corp. in 1993 and was the project manager for the Lakewood Cove Subdivision in Jackson, Mississippi.

May received her B.S. in Political Science from the University of Southern Mississippi and her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is married to John, and together they have one son.

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.