Dr. Marketta Blue, Chief Medical Officer, joined the medical staff at Delta Health Center upon completion of her medical education at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in May 2017. A board certified family medicine physician, she sees patients at our Dr. H. Jack Geiger Medical Center in Mound Bayou, MS. She was recently named Chief Medical Officer in March 2019. She grew up in Greenville, MS, a part of Delta Health Centers service area, and is a member of the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program.

Ronsheka Palmer, DNP, FNP-C, Chief Operating Officer, has more than 10 years of healthcare experience. She attained her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from the University of Alabama, and has held leadership roles in the field of nutrition/dietetics and nursing. She oversees day-to-day operating of activities of all of Delta Health Centers clinic sites, including patient services, compliance issues, recruitment and retention of personnel, development and implementation of operational controls, policies and procedures, and systems. She continues to see patients as a Family Nurse Practitioner at DHCs Searcy Medical Center in Cleveland.

Hazel Whiting brings more than 15 years of experience in various accounting operations. She provides executive leadership, vision, and oversight of Delta Health Centers financial management and accounting department. Mrs. Whitings past professional experience includes working as Chief Financial Officer for G.A. Carmichael FHC, Inc., and as an Accountant for Entergy (Mississippi Power and Light Company) in Jackson, Mississippi.

Mrs. Whiting received her Masters in Business Administration from Jackson State University, in Jackson, Mississippi, and a Bachelors of Science in Accounting from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee.

Robin C. Boyles joined Delta Health Center in January 2017 following eight years as the Director of Institutional Grants at Delta State University. Ms. Boyles has over 20 years of experience with nonprofits working in direct service, management, and administrative positions. She has worked with various programs related to health education and outreach especially in areas of HIV, tobacco, and substance abuse prevention. In her role as Chief Program Planning and Development Officer, she is responsible for assessing and identifying community and organizational needs, developing programming and seeking funding opportunities to address those needs, and provides leadership and management to those programs and projects once funded. She is also responsible for marketing and promoting Delta Health Centers programs and services.

Myrtis Small serves as the Human Resources and Credentialing Director at Delta Health Center. Ms. Small reports directly to the CEO of Delta Health Center. Ms. Small is a graduate of Canton High School, Belhaven University and Jackson State University where she received her Masters of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management. Prior to joining Delta Health Center, Myrtis served as the Workforce Development Director with the Mississippi Primary Health Care Association. She also served as the Issue Resolution Specialist and other capacities with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi from 1994-2008. She also served as a Rehabilitation Counselor with the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services and completed her internship with the Mississippi House of Representatives.

As we collectively remember the life and the contributions of Dr. H. Jack Geiger, the quote by Sir Isaac Newton comes to mind, 'If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.'

Delta Health Center joins its sister organizations, the over 1300 community health centers in Mississippi and across the nation as we grieve, reflect, and honor the life and legacy of Dr. H. Jack Geiger, for his are the shoulders of which we stand. He was a leader, mentor, visionary, and a trailblazer respected by the Community Health Center movement and thousands of others

Dr. Geiger first came to Mississippi in response to the clarion call sounded by Dr. Robert Smith, to provide healthcare to the Freedom Riders who were registering African Americans to vote in 1964. It was then that he became aware of the generations of African Americans in the Mississippi Delta, who had no access to healthcare, and were living in unhealthy and unsafe environments. Following that fateful Freedom Summer, Dr. Geiger, along with Dr. Robert Smith, Dr. Count Gibson, and others, held an all-night meeting in a Greenville, MS hotel, emerging with a commitment to establish 'neighborhood health centers' to address the plight and unmet needs of underserved, impoverished people and communities. Tufts Delta Health Center was established in Mound Bayou, MS, with funding from the newly formed Office of Economic Opportunity established by President Lyndon Johnson.

Today, we pay homage to the past, the struggles and obstacles that were overcome and the groundwork that he laid, as we stand on his shoulders in the present, with a renewed commitment to strive to see further and carry forward his vision into the future.