This year’s Griffith-Pinkston Memorial Golf Tournament has been scheduled for Monday, November 11, 2024, at Lake Caroline Golf Club in Madison, Mississippi.  Anyone interested in sponsoring or playing in the tournament can register by contacting Monica Watkins at mwatkins2@umc.edu.

The department’s annual golf tournament began in the early 1990s, but it became the Department of Medicine Griffith Memorial Golf Tournament in 2001, two years after our state lost a true leader in pulmonary medicine education, Dr. James Griffith, a superb physician, beloved teacher, and trusted friend. In early 2011, the Pulmonary Division, as well as the Department of Medicine and the Jackson VA, lost another outstanding physician, mentor, and person—Dr. William “Chappie” Pinkston. That same year, the annual golf tournament was renamed to honor both of these influential men.

During their tenure on the faculty at UMMC and at the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery V.A. Medical Center, Grif and Chappie served as mentors to pulmonary fellows, residents, and medical students. They played large roles in the training of many of the physicians who were practicing in the state of Mississippi at the time of their deaths and who are practicing today. They were loved and respected by their friends, colleagues, and patients, and they were looked upon as role models by their trainees.

The proceeds from the tournament go to our Trainee Scholarship Fund, which has supported over 250 residents and over 200 fellows in traveling to present their research and scholarship over the last 12 years. These experiences have been career-changing for the trainees and have had a major impact on the quality of care the patients of our state receive. Your involvement helps this development of our state’s current and future generations of physicians to continue. You can support the scholarship of our trainees either by playing in the tournament or donating directly to the Trainee Scholarship Fund. To register, email Monica Watkins at mwatkins2@umc.edu or donate directly HERE and select Trainee Scholarship Fund in the dropdown menu.

See below for past golf tournament photos!