Officers

Vin Tangpricha, MD, PhD
President
Emory University School of Medicine
Division of Endocrinology
101 Woodruff Circle, WMRB 1301
Atlanta, GA 30322
Phone: 404-727-7254
Fax: 404-727-1300
vin.tangpricha@emory.edu
Term of office: 2023
About Dr. Tangpricha
Dr. Tangpricha completed his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine and his residency and fellowship training in endocrinology at Boston University Medical Center. He completed his PhD in molecular medicine at Boston University on the topic of vitamin D and colon cancer.
Dr. Tangpricha is a Professor of Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine, where he has been a faculty member since 2004. He has served as a past program director for the endocrinology fellowship program and program director for the ABIM physician scientist pathway, internal medicine residency programs. His research interests include vitamin D, endocrine conditions in cystic fibrosis and transgender medicine. He has been funded by the CF Foundation and NIH for his research studies. He has published over 250 peer reviewed manuscripts. He also serves as the editor in chief of Endocrine Practice, the official journal of the American Association of Endocrinology.
He was elected to the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation in 2008 and presently services on Council. He currently holds the position of President of SSCI. He serves on the early career council, membership, finance and publications committees.

S. Calvin Thigpen, MD
President-elect
University of Mississippi Medical Center
UMMC Cancer Institute
350 West Woodrow Wilson Drive
Jackson, MS 39213
Phone: 601-984-5590
Fax: 601-984-5599
sthigpen@umc.edu
Term of office: 2023
About Dr. Thigpen
Dr. Calvin Thigpen completed his medical degree, internal medicine residency, chief residency, and hematology-oncology fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson, Mississippi. He is now a Professor of Medicine and is the Internal Medicine Residency Program Director and Vice-Chair for Education of the Department of Medicine at UMMC. He currently practices and teaches both inpatient and outpatient general internal medicine and engages in medical education research focused on the link between growth vs fixed mindsets and objective educational outcomes.
Dr. Thigpen has been a member of the SSCI since January 2013 and a Councilor from 2019-2023. He is the current Chair of the Membership Committee and guided the development of the SSCI's Early Career Council in 2021 to stimulate membership, collaboration, and networking among the society's early career investigators and educators. Dr. Thigpen has chaired the Career Advancement for the Clinician Educator workshops at the Southern Regional Meetings (SRM) since 2019, and he was recognized as the SSCI's Mentor of the Year in the Post-Graduate Category at SRM 2022.
Dr. Thigpen's career interests are the education, mentorship, and career development of internal medicine and subspecialty trainees and junior faculty.

Leslie Gewin, MD
Secretary-Treasurer
Washington University School of Medicine
660 South Euclid Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63110
Phone: 314-747-1304
gewin@wustl.edu
Term of office: 2023-2026
About Dr. Gewin
Leslie Gewin, MD, is a physician-scientist in the Division of Nephrology at Washington University in St. Louis and a Staff Physician at the St. Louis VA. Her research interest focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying chronic kidney disease progression. She runs a basic science lab funded by both the NIH and the VA that studies how renal tubular epithelia respond to injury and how these responses promote repair or fibrosis. Dr. Gewin is particularly interested in the role of growth factors and altered metabolism in modulating these epithelial responses. She also has a chronic kidney disease clinic and attends on the nephrology consult service at the St. Louis VA. Dr. Gewin is passionate about teaching and supporting the next generation of physician-scientists. She previously served as Co-director of the Kidney Student Research Training Program, which places medical students in a lab for a mentored research experience during the summer between first and second years. To advocate for the careers of women investigators, Dr. Gewin has been involved as a Councilor on Women in Nephrology, an international group that provides mentorship and professional development to both men and women in nephrology. Dr. Gewin is also a fellow and current Councilor of Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (SSCI) and served as a judge for the SSCI's Nephrology Young Investigators' Forum 2019-2021.

Kenneth Nugent, MD
Past President
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Chief, Pulmonary Division
Department of Medicine
3601 Fourth Street
Lubbock, TX 79430
Phone: 806-743-6847
Fax: 806-743-3148
kenneth.nugent@ttuhsc.edu
Term of office: 2023
About Dr. Nugent
Kenneth Nugent graduated Washington University in St. Louis Medical School. He completed Internal Medicine residency training and Pulmonary Fellowship training at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. He also completed a 2-year Research Associate training program at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. He is currently Professor of Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas. He is chief of the pulmonary and critical care division and program director for the pulmonary and critical care fellowship, and medical director of the intensive care unit at University Medical Center in Lubbock Texas and is the medical director for the South Plains College Respiratory Therapy program. Dr. Nugent is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians and a Fellow in the American College of Chest Physicians. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, and Critical Care Medicine.
Dr. Nugent's main research interests involves clinical pulmonary diseases, COPD and sleep effects in obese patients, and enjoys working on clinical projects with Internal Medicine residents and medical students. He has published a handbook on mechanical ventilation with several residents and faculty members in the Department of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Nugent has been a member the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation since 1989 and has been serving, since 2011, on the Editorial Board for The American Journal of the Medical Sciences.

Joan Kemp
Executive Director
Southern Society for Clinical Investigation
6359 Tribute Lane
Dora, AL 35062
Phone: 205-648-8429
Cell: 205-566-6090
jkemp5@tulane.edu
About Ms. Kemp
Ms. Kemp serves as Executive Director of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation and has done so since 1991. In October of 2017, she retired from the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center after serving as the Director of Operations and Assistant to the Director since 1969.
When she is not working for the SSCI or the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, she enjoys spending time with her family and her horses.

Pamala Schmidt
Administrative Director
Southern Society for Clinical Investigation
1430 Tulane Ave #8451
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: 504-988-6886
Fax: 504-988-1779
ssci@tulane.edu
pschmidt@tulane.edu
About Ms. Schmidt
Ms. Schmidt serves as Administrative Director of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. In addition to her role at the SSCI, she is also the Assistant Director of the Center for Continuing Education at Tulane University.

Jesse Roman, MD, FACP, FACCP
Editor in Chief - The American Journal of the Medical Sciences
Thomas Jefferson University
Jane & Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute
834 Walnut Street, Suite 650
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: 215-955-6591
Fax: 215-955-0830
jesse.roman@jefferson.edu
Term of office: 2017-2027