Faculty

P. Brent Smith, MD

Program Director

Dr. Smith is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University, receiving both a B.S in Biology and B.A. in History from the institution. Dr. Smith received his MD degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center and completed his Family Medicine residency there. He completed a Fellowship in Sports Medicine at the University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and returned to the Mississippi Delta to practice rural medicine. Dr. Smith is Past President of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation Board of Trustees and has served on the faculty of the AAFP Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Institute. He is a Fellow of the AAFP, a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine and serves as team physician for multiple high schools in the Mississippi Delta.

Andrea Collins, MD

Dr. Andrea Collins has been around medicine and doctors her entire life. Her mother and aunt are physicians and have set a good example for her. Her siblings also suffered from several medical illnesses including Type I diabetes and congenital heart issues. Dr. Collins’s undergraduate degree is in biomedical engineering, so she started with a firm grasp of medicine. She decided to continue her education and become a physician.

Dr. Collins completed her medical degree at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Her career has mostly been spent working in rural Mississippi, including West Point, Starkville, Natchez, Meridian, Brookhaven, Meadville, Tylertown, Hazlehurst, and Indianola, working as a hospitalist and/or emergency medicine physician. She as also served as a nursing home director of East Mississippi State Hospital in Meridian, MS.

D. Melessa Phillips MD, MPH

Dr. Phillips earned her B.S. in Biology from Newcomb College. her M.D degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, and her Master of Public Health degree from San Jose State University in San Jose, California. She completed her Family Medicine residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) and taught in the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical Center for 30 years, serving as Departmental Chairman for 19 years. Dr. Phillips is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine, and the MSMERC residency program’s Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education Designated Institutional Official. She is Professor and Chair Emeritus of Family Medicine at UMMC.

T. Brett Zepponi, DO

Dr. Zepponi graduated from Mississippi College in Clinton, MS with a B.S. degree in Biological Sciences and received his D. O. degree from the William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Hattiesburg, MS. He completed his residency at the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, MS and returned home to Greenville, MS to enter practice. Dr. Zepponi is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine. He is the Associate Program Director of the MSMERC Mississippi Delta Family Medicine Residency.

John T. Parks, MD

Dr. Parks received his B.A. from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, majoring in International Relations and Global Medicine. He earned his MD at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington DC and completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Parks has been a volunteer teaching and research physician in Afghanistan, Ghana, and South Africa. Prior to entering practice with Dr. James Wright at the Lake Village Clinic in Lake Village, Arkansas, Dr. Parks was the Head of the Department of Family Medicine and the Residency Director at the University of Malawi College of Medicine in Blantyre, Malawi from 2010-2015. He is a Fellow of the AAFP and a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine.

James C. Wright, DO

Dr. Wright received his BS degree in Biology at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, AR and his DO degree from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Kirksville, Missouri. He completed his Family Medicine residency at the UAMS-AHEC program in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and has practiced rural medicine for over thirty years. Dr. Wright is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine. He is in the practice of Family Medicine at the Lake Village Clinic in Lake Village, Arkansas.

Shannon Myers MD, DPT

Dr. Myers received his BS degree in Biology from Delta State University in Cleveland, MS and his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from UMMC in Jackson, MS. He earned his MD degree from the Ross University School of Medicine in the West Indies and completed his Family Medicine residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Myers is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine. He practices family and emergency medicine at the North Sunflower Medical Center in Ruleville, Mississippi.

Parvez Karim, MD, MBBS

Dr. Karim received his medical degree from the Chittagong Medical University in Bangladesh and completed his Internal Medicine residency at the St. Luke/Columbia Hospital of Columbia University in New York City. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a member of the American College of Physicians. Dr. Karim has practiced clinic and hospital medicine in Greenville since 1999.

Robert N. Suares, MD

Dr. Suares received a B.S. and M.S in Biology from Delta State University and a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. He received his medical degree from St Matthews University School of Medicine, Grand Cayman and completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine. After residency, Dr. Suares returned home to Greenville and is in the private practice of Family Medicine.

Anthony Carter, MD

Dr. Carter received his undergraduate degree in Biology at Millsaps College in Jackson, MS. Dr. Carter went on to complete a Master of Biomedical Sciences degree prior to beginning medical school. He received his medical degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS. He completed his residency at the Mississippi Delta Family Medicine Residency Program, Greenville, MS. He is a board-certified Family Medicine practitioner and a member of the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Eric Wilkerson, II, MD

Dr. Wilkerson received a B.S. in Mathematics with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Mississippi. He received his medical degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS. He completed his residency at the Mississippi Delta Family Medicine Residency Program, Greenville, MS. He is a board-certified Family Medicine practitioner and a member of the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Lee Ann Bowlin

Program Coordinator

Lee Ann is responsible for providing direction, leadership and day-to-day administration and management of the residency program. Lee Ann is instrumental in long range planning, recruitment, administrative workflow, and communication.