Dr. Melissa Stephens is an Assistant Dean of Clinical Medicine and Professor of Family Medicine for Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine. Before joining ARCOM, Dr. Stephens served as Program Director for the EC-HealthNet Family Medicine Residency Program and Fellowship Director for the EC-HealthNet Rural Maternal Health Fellowship Program in Meridian, Mississippi. She also served as the Associate Dean of Population Health at the William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. During her time at WCUCOM, Dr. Stephens held a variety of other positions including Associate Dean of Primary Care & GME and Professor of Clinical Sciences. Dr. Stephens has also spent more than two decades in clinical practice caring for underserved patients in academic, rural, and urban settings in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and Mississippi Gulf Coast.
She has received numerous honors and awards including the WCUCOM Outstanding Clinical Faculty Award; AACOM Society of Osteopathic Medical Educators Marguerite Elliott Innovation in Clinical Medical Education Award; Mississippi Pinnacle Awards Evelyn Gandy Women’s Leadership Award; and Mississippi State Medical Association Doctor of Distinction Award and Women Leaders in Medicine Award – South Mississippi. She serves on the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Mississippi Board of Directors; National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners National Faculty; Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Medical Education Collaborative Steering Committee; and the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation Board of Trustees.
Dr. Stephens graduated with distinction from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine in Kansas City, Missouri. She completed her family medicine residency training and served as a chief resident at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. She also earned a Master of Science in Population Health Management from the University of Mississippi Medical Center John D. Bower School of Population Health. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine.
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