Dr. Nina Washington will serve as Director of Rheumatology with an emphasis on treating patients with chronic autoimmune and auto-inflammatory conditions. Dr. Washington is a native Mississippian and received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Xavier University of Louisiana, a Masters of Public Health (MPH) with a special interest in hospital leadership and management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and her Medical Degree (M.D.) from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She then completed her pediatric residency at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital and a Pediatric Rheumatology fellowship at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University. She has a special interest in quality of life issues for children and adolescents living with autoimmune diseases. She considers it an honor to provide care to the children of Mississippi, is active in her church community, and enjoys exercise, literature, cooking, and traveling. Dr. Washington is an active member of the American College of Rheumatology and the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance.