BEST OF JACKSON // medical COURTESY SCOTT RUNNELS
Best Cosmetic Surgeon: Scott Runnels (Runnels Center, 1055 River Oaks Drive, Flowood, 601.398.9903, runnelscenter.com) Dr. Scott Runnels had a love of art and science, and while in medical school, he began to see cosmetic surgery as a way to combine those two paths. “Even as child, I remember having an appreciation for people’s perspectives, and I think art gives a person an opportunity to express their perspective,” he says on the Runnels Center website. “Plastic surgery seemed to me the best combination in medi-
cine of the sciences and arts.” He graduated from Mississippi College with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1988 and then from medical school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1993. He finished his general surgery and plastic surgery training at the University of Tennessee. He began practicing in Jackson in 1998 and then opened The Runnels Center in 2005. His specialties include aes-
thetic and cosmetic surgeries for the body, breast and the face. —ShaCamree Gowdy Finalists: Dev ManiSundaram (The Face & Body Center, 2550 Flowood Drive, Flowood, 601.202.4294) / Jep Cole (Cole Facial Clinic & Skin Care, 1030 N. Flowood Drive, Flowood, 601.933.2004) / Shelby Brantley (The Face & Body Center, 2550 Flowood Drive, Flowood, 601.202.4294) /
Stephen Davidson (The Face & Body Center, 601.202.4294)
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Best Hospital: St Dominic Hospital (969 Lakeland Drive, 601.200.2000, stdom.com) This year’s winner for Best Hospital, St. Dominic Hospital, consistently strives to improve its quality of care. In fact, it has earned an “A” for patient safety in the Leapfrog Group’s survey for the last four rating periods. It has also won multiple Best of Jackson awards and ones such as Outstanding Patient Experience from Healthgrades, an award that only 15 percent of hospitals in the U.S. get. It is also the only hospital in Mississippi that has received an Advanced Certification for Comprehensive Stroke Centers. St. Dominic, which the Dominican Sis-
ters of Springfield, Ill., sponsor, considers its calling not only to care for the sick, but to provide education and wellness services to the community so that risk factors can be eliminated before they contribute to more serious health problems. The hospital has services for everything from cancer to women’s services to wellness clinics and more. St. Dominic specializes in robotic surgery, women’s health care, and diabetes and heart attack treatment. —Andrea Wright Dilworth
Finalists: Baptist Health Systems (multiple locations, mbhs.org) / Batson Children’s Hospital (2500 N. State St., 601.815.8010, ummchealth.com/batson) / Merit Health Central (1850 Chadwick Drive, 601.376.1000, merithealthcentral.com) / University of Mississippi Medical Center (2500 N. State St., 601.984.1000, umc.edu)
Best Optometrist/Ophthalmologist: Tonyatta Hairston (EnVision Eye Care & Optical Boutique, 1316 N. State St., 601.987.3937, 987eyes.com)
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ter in Biloxi, and with Dr. Dewey Handy in Jackson and Dr. Watts Davis in Laurel. She opened EnVision in 2003. When Hairston isn’t at the clinic, she does public speaking on topics related to eye care and entrepreneurship. She is also an adjunct professor for extern students at Southern College of Optometry and at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. —Andrea Wright Dilworth Finalists: Christopher Bullin (Mississippi EyeCare Associates, 404 Riverwind Drive, Suite
Summer 2018 // The City’s Business and Lifestyle Magazine
B1, Pearl, 601.398.3000; 310 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave., Suite 300, 601.366.9020; 7118 Siwell Road, Suite B, Byram, 601.373.0354, mseyecare.org) / Curtis Whittington (Jackson Eye Associates, PLLC, 1200 N. State St., Suite 330, 601.353.2020) / D’Ellia McKinney-Evans (Odom’s Eye CareOptical, 1461 Canton Mart Road, Suite A, 601.977.0272, odomseyecare.com) / Leslie Bear (Leslie H. Bear MD, 1815 Hospital Drive, Suite 462, 601.373.0594, merithealthcentral.com) / Marjorie McLin Lenoir (Reflections Vision Center, 101-C Lexington Drive, Madison, 601.605.4423, reflectionsvisioncenter.com)
DELRECO HARRIS
Dr. Tonyatta Hairston did not question what she wanted to be when she grew up. At the age of 6, she was captivated by optometry and ophthalmology, and kept her eyes focused on her goal of improving others’ ability to see the world. “I was fascinated with the human eye and how it allows us to view and interpret the world,” she says. Hairston graduated from Tougaloo College with a bachelor’s degree in biology. She graduated from the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis. She did externships at Keesler Medical Cen-
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