By Gary Pettus
JA Guest Writer
Dr. Kimberly Bibb, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, is a 2024 recipient of the Health Equity Achieved through Lifestyle Medicine (HEAL) Initiative Scholarship presented by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
The ACLM program presents a $3,895 need-based award to each recipient to cover costs associated with education and certification in lifestyle medicine.
According to the ACLM, the program supports “a diverse health care workforce” by offering the scholarships to clinicians underrepresented in medicine. This year, the grants amounted to more than $100,000.
The awardees identify as Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or Indigenous. Their scholarships are intended to support research demonstrating that patients from minority backgrounds are more likely to have better health outcomes when their clinician shares their race and ethnicity.
“I am very grateful and honored to be a recipient of the ACLM HEAL Initiative Scholarship,” Bibb said.
“This opportunity will enable me to complete the requirements to become board-certified in lifestyle medicine, and as a result, will enhance my knowledge, skills, and expertise to continue educating patients on the importance of healthy lifestyle interventions for the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases.
“As a HEAL scholarship recipient, I will continue to pursue my passion to improve health equity and eradicate health-care disparities within my community.”
The Clinton resident earned her medical degree at UMMC in 2003 and completed her family medicine residency at the Huntsville Regional Medical Campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She joined the UMMC faculty in 2015 after serving in the Jackson area for several years as a staff physician and in private practice.
Board certified in family medicine and in obesity medicine, Bibb helped establish the UMMC Weight Management Clinic. She was also a recent recipient of the Mid-Career Faculty Award from the Group on Women in Medicine and Science at UMMC.
As a HEAL scholarship winner, she was part of a group of honorees representing such institutions as Emory Healthcare, Baylor College of Medicine, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the University of Texas Medical Branch, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Morehouse School of Medicine, and St. Jude Neighborhood Health Centers.
“We are proud to fund 26 health equity champions this year,” Dr. Beth Frates, ACLM president, said in a statement.
“We know that communities in need are at a higher risk for lifestyle-related chronic disease … [T]he awardees understand the need to address underlying factors, like food and housing insecurity, that exacerbate lifestyle-related chronic disease.”
