Meet our team.
Just a few of the Mississippi institutions we support.
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Palmer Home for Children
For more than 125 years, Palmer Home has empowered children in critical situations to reach their true potential by providing restorative environments that support healthy development and nurture resilience.
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YMCA
The YMCA knows that lasting personal and social change comes about when we all work together. Every day, the Y works side-by-side with neighbors to ensure that everyone, regardless of age, income or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive.
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GCDSS
The purpose of GCDSS is to build a supportive network for families and individuals with Down syndrome to share information, strength and hope, ensuring that all people with Down syndrome have the opportunity to achieve their full potential in community life.
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MSD Foundation
The United MSD Foundation is dedicated to pursuing treatment and advocacy for Multiple Sulfatase Deficiency.
Van Wurm, MD
Dr. Van Wurm has been serving the MS Gulf Coast as a board-certified pediatrician since 2009. He is board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, and is currently serving as an Assistant Clinical Professor at Mississippi State University in the Physician Assistant Program. He has been living and working in Ocean Springs since 2009. In 2013, he opened Mississippi Pediatric Associates.
Dr. Wurm graduated from Clinton High School in 1988. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Mississippi State University and a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University. He obtained a professional engineering license in chemical engineering and worked as an engineer for seven years prior to returning to medical school. He received a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Mississippi in 2006. He completed a residency in pediatrics at the Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital at UMC.
NURSE PRACTITIONER
Danielle Barber, PNP
Please welcome our new Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Danielle Barber. Danielle was born and raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She received her Associate degree of nursing from Jones County Junior College and her Bachelor of Science in nursing from Louisiana State University. She continued her nursing path at the University of South Alabama where she earned a Master of Science in nursing. Danielle is a board-certified pediatric nurse practitioner.
Danielle has worked in the neonatal intensive care unit at University of Mississippi Medical Center, the nursery at Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, and private duty nursing for pediatric patients.
She was recently married, and she and her husband have a dog named Shadow.
PEDIATRICIAN
Liz Smith, PNP
Liz Smith is originally from Michigan but has called Mississippi home since 2008.
She graduated from Mississippi College with a BS degree in Kinesiology and holds a BS degree in Nursing from the University of Mississippi and an MSN in Nursing from the University of South Alabama. Liz has worked in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and in the operating room at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital. She is board certified by the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board.
Liz resides in Pascagoula with her husband and three children.
NURSE PRACTITIONER