Darryl Jordan, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
THIMS Faculty Advisor
Department of Internal Medicine
Meharry Medical College (MMC) founded in October 1876 was part of the mission of the Freedman’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church to educate freed slaves and to provide health care services for them.
In 1915 the state of TN granted MMC a new charter affording a separate corporate existence. Since that time, Meharry Medical College has remained a fully independent, health professions educational institution.
Presently, the College includes schools of Dentistry, Graduate Studies and Research, Medicine, and Allied Health Professions. Meharry’s Internal Medicine Residency Program has been accredited for over 50 years. However, the decade of the 1990’s presented challenging recruitment opportunities.
To combat the shortcomings of an aging hospital with aged technology and to infuse the excitement of being an integral part of one of the most prestigious specialties of medicine and the cornerstone of tertiary medical, the idea of an Internal Medicine Student Club was conceptualized by John Thomas, Jr., MD’44, a cardiovascular clinician and researcher.
The major focus of the Club is to:
The MMC2 [Meharry Medicine Club of Meharry Medical College] composed of sophomore, junior and senior medical students was launched September 3, 1997. The two faculty advisors were Dr. John Thomas, cardiologist and the founding father, and Dr. Clinton Cummings, pulmonologist.
The special feature of MMC2 is the free and informal communications between senior faculty and student members.
Activities-to-date include monthly dinner meetings, development of a Journal Club designed to teach members how to properly read, decipher, evaluate and present peer-reviewed journal articles; scientific presentations by invited faculty members, conducting community based health fairs, providing triage emergency medical care to African Street Fair attendants, publication of an article written by the Club president in the CARDIOSCAPES journal which is published semi-annually by the Brother-s Thomas Cardiovascular Learning Resources Center at Meharry.
To foster camaraderie among members, MMC2 sweatshirts or tee shirts are provided each member during the introductory dinner program and the often humorous Key Note Address “The Way It Was and The Way It Is” is presented by a favored Distinguished Faculty Emeritus member.
MMC2 members are provided additional opportunities to train on the HARVEY patient simulator, utilize the Brothers-Thomas Cardiovascular Learning Resources Center for computer-aided instruction or study time, receive additional indirect blood pressure measurement training, and special tutoring from Attending Physicians rather than Resident Physicians.
On December 1, 1999, Dr. John Thomas expired in Nashville General Hospital during the MMC2 meeting. At the January meeting, the MMC2 members unanimously voted to adopt the name Thomas-Hardy Internal Medicine Society (THIMS) in commemoration of Drs. John Thomas and Robert E. Hardy, two devoted Meharrians committed to student advocacy and clinical research.
THIMS Presidents:
Michael E. Menefee, M.D.’98 (Internal Medicine)
Duane Densler, M.D.’99 (Neurosurgery)
Kevin Marks, M.D.’00 (Internal Medicine)
Edward German, M.D.’01
Racquel Daley-Placides, M.D.’02 (Internal Medicine)
Jana J. Dickson, M.D.’03 (Obstetrics-Gynecology)
Koyia Figures, M.D.’04 (Geriatrics)
Luckson Mathieu, M.D.’05 (Internal Medicine)
Derrick E. Sims, M.D.’06
Chad Conatser, M.D.’07
Earl Britt, M.D.’09
Ms. D. Johniene Thomas, MSPH
CME Coordinator
Department of Internal Medicine
615 - 327- 6159 Phone
jthomas@mmc.edu
