The University of Mississippi Medical Center, located in Jackson, is the state's only academic health science center. UMMC encompasses six health science schools: medicine, nursing, dentistry, health related professions, graduate studies and pharmacy. (The School of Pharmacy is headquartered on the Oxford campus.) Enrollment in all programs is more than 2,800 students.

The Medical Center's missions are to improve the lives of Mississippians by educating tomorrow's health care professionals, by conducting health sciences research, and by providing cutting edge patient care. A major goal of the Medical Center is the elimination of differences in health status of Mississippians based on race, geography, income or social status.

Integral to its education and research missions, UMMC provides wide-ranging patient care programs. Four specialized hospitals on the Jackson campus include the only children's hospital in Mississippi, a women and infants' hospital, and a critical care hospital. UMMC offers the only level one trauma center, the only level four neonatal intensive care nursery, and the only organ transplant programs in the state, in addition to many other referral services. University Physicians, the faculty group practice of the School of Medicine, includes 500 doctors, many of them among the leaders in their field, who care for patients in the university hospitals and in clinics on campus, around the Jackson metro area, and in outreach clinics around the state.

With over 9,100 full- and part-time employees, UMMC is one of the largest employers in Mississippi. The Medical Center's $1.6 billion annual budget - approximately one-tenth from state appropriations - represents 10 percent of the Jackson metro area economy and 2 percent of the state economy. Despite the recent national recession, UMMC continues to grow in all its mission areas.