 |
David Pizzimenti, DO
Director
Dr. Pizzimenti completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He earned his medical degree from Nova Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, followed by an internal medicine internship and residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. A board-certified internal medicine physician, Dr. Pizzimenti was inducted to the American College of Osteopathic Internist College of Fellows in 2009. In addition, he is a certified wound care specialist.
David Pizzimenti served as the founding director the internal medicine residency program and director of the hospitalist program at Magnolia Regional Health Center in Corinth, Mississippi. He has multiple academic and committee appointments, including ACGME’s Resident Review Committee for Internal Medicine. He is also on ACGME’s subcommittee that creates the training standards for internists and internal medicine sub-specialists nationally. He became a Board of Trustees member for the American Board of Internal Medicine in 2020. He has practiced internal medicine in north Mississippi since 2005 and joined the NMMC staff in 2019.
|
 |
Bradley Boldizar, MD
Dr. Boldizar grew up in the Memphis area before attending Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where he received his bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering. He received his medical degree from the University of Tennessee before completing his internal medicine residency at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Since 2013 he has been practicing medicine as a hospitalist at NMMC, where he has served as Chairman of Medicine, co-chair of the Sepsis Committee, and as an active member of multiple other committees. He currently lives in Belden with his wife and three young boys. His hobbies include tennis, traveling and trying to keep his three little boys out of the ER.
|
 |
Marissa Cruz, DO, MPH/MBA
Dr. Cruz received her bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She received a master in public health and a master in business administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She earned her medical degree from the Arizona School of Osteopathic Medicine in Glendale, Arizona. She completed an internal medicine residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, and she has completed additional training in hyperbaric medicine and wound care. She is board certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Cruz practiced in Corinth from 2009 until 2019, when she joined IMA-Tupelo. She is a member of the American College of Osteopathic Internists and the American Osteopathic Association. She enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with her two children and new puppy.
|
 |
Amy Doyle, MD
Dr. Doyle graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed her medical degree at the University of Alabama School of Medicine, and her internal medicine residency at Baptist Health Systems in Birmingham, where she served as chief resident. She completed a clinical fellowship in infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Department of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a diplomat in internal medicine with the American Board of Internal Medicine. She most recently worked as a hospitalist at Sacred Heart Hospital in Florida.
|
 |
Renata Palasiewicz, DO, MBA
Immigrating with her family from Poland at age 5, Dr. Palasiewicz spent her formative years in the Chicagoland area, receiving her bachelor’s degree in biology from Loyola University Chicago. She spent the following four years working as a certified nursing assistant before completing her medical degree at the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences Osteopathic School of Medicine in Kansas City. She also has a dual master’s degree in business administration/healthcare leadership from Rockhurst University in Kansas City. Dr. Palasiewicz completed her internal medicine residency at Advocate Christ Medical Center (Affiliate of University of Illinois at Chicago), where she discovered her passion for treating patients in primary care.
Dr. Palasiewicz has been practicing as a hospitalist at NMMC since 2016. She lives in Tupelo with her husband, beautiful daughter and two four-legged family members. Having been a high school athlete, she enjoys keeping active and has found a new passion in running. Dr. Palasiewicz also spends her time making arts and crafts, baking and spending time with family.
|
 |
Vernon Rayford, MD, Pharm.D
A native of Holly Springs, Dr. Rayford earned his doctoral degree from the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. He received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. He completed a combined residency training in internal medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He is also board certified in internal medicine, pediatrics and obesity medicine.
Dr. Rayford joined North Mississippi Health Services in 2013, caring for patients at IMA-Tupelo. He joined the faculty of the Internal Medicine Residency Program in 2022.
Dr. Rayford is an active community advocate working local groups including Project ELECT, the Northeast Mississippi Coalition Against COVID-19, Vitalant and Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. He lives in Tupelo with his wife and son. His hobbies include traveling and running, and he has combined the two, completing marathons in Little Rock, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee; New York City; Chicago; New Orleans and Berlin.
|
 |
Renee Walters, DO, MS
Dr. Walters was raised in New York City and received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York. Her desire to learn more about the social determinants of disease let her to complete a master's degree in epidemiology from the University of Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. Medicine has piqued her curiosity since childhood, and she fulfilled her dream of becoming a physician by completed a doctorate of osteopathic medicine from Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio. She then completed an internal medicine residency at Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee, Illinois, and received her board certification the same year. She has practiced at NMMC in Tupelo since 2016.
|
 |
Dorie Crouch, Residency Coordinator
Crouch serves as Residency Coordinator for the NMMC Internal Medicine Residency Program. She earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Mississippi in 1994. She has worked with North Mississippi Health Services since 1996 in various roles throughout the organization, and transferred to the Internal Medicine Residency Program in 2019. She enjoys spending her free time with family.
|
 |
Claudia Holliday, Residency Coordinator/Office Manager
Claudia Holliday serves in a dual role of Residency Coordinator/Office Manager for the NMMC Internal Medicine Residency Program. She graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor of professional accountancy in 1996, followed by a master of professional accountancy in 1997. She has been an employee of North Mississippi Health Services since 2007, working in various roles including accountant, financial analyst and business coordinator. She lives in Tupelo with her husband and two children. Her family attends Gloster Street Church of Christ in Tupelo, where she teaches Bible classes. For fun, she enjoys going on trips to the mountains and spending time with her family.
|
