BIOGRAPHY OF LUCIUS MARION LAMPTON, M. D., FAAFP
PAST-PRESIDENT,
MISSISSIPPI ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS
EDITOR, JOURNAL OF THE MISSISSIPPI STATE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
MEMBER, MISSISSIPPI STATE BOARD OF HEALTH

Dr. Lucius “Luke” Lampton of Magnolia, immediate past-president of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians and Editor of the Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association, was born in Jackson on March 26, 1966, the son of Dr. and Mrs. T. D. (Bob) Lampton. After serving as president of his class and editor of the school newspaper, he graduated first in his high school class in 1984. After being taught by the famed historian Shelby Foote, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with Honors in History from Rhodes College in Memphis in 1988, editing the student newspaper The Sou’wester during his junior and senior years. At Rhodes, he also received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for service and leadership and lettered all four years on the varsity tennis team. He graduated from the University of Mississippi Medical School in Jackson in 1993, editing the student newspaper The Murmur and winning a William Carlos Williams Poetry Award, an annual award for North America’s medical students, for his poem “witchdoctor.” He also won Outstanding Senior Medical Student given by the UMC Department of Psychiatry. In 1996, he completed a residency in Family Medicine at University of Mississippi School of Medicine and became board certified by the American Board of Family Practice. In 2005, he was awarded the degree of Fellow by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Dr. Lampton practices family medicine at the Walthall Clinic in Tylertown and at the Magnolia Clinic in Magnolia. He is past Chief of Staff of Beacham Memorial Hospital in Magnolia. He is past-president of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians and has served as vice president, secretary, and on its Board of Trustees. He is also chief Editor of the Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association and serves on the Editorial Board of the Southern Medical Journal.  He is an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi State Medical Association. He is currently secretary of the South Central Medical Society, and has served as president and president-elect in the past. He also serves as a Clinical Associate Professor at Tulane Medical School in Family Medicine and as a part of the clinical faculty for the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, training medical students and residents from both institutions. He is Associate Councilor for Mississippi for the Southern Medical Association. He has also served on the board of Information and Quality Healthcare (IQH), the state Medicare Quality Review organization. On that board, he has served on the Executive Committee, and as Vice Chairman of the Board and as Treasurer. He has also served since 2003 on the UMC Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Dr. Lampton has been active in both the AMA and the AAFP, serving on the Mississippi delegation. He has served as Alternate Delegate to the Congress of Delegates for the AAFP from the state of Mississippi in 2005 and 2006. He has served as Alternate Delegate to the AMA from Mississippi at both the June and November meetings, 2006. He has also served for five years as AMA YPS delegate from Mississippi.

Dr. Lampton is widely known for historic preservation efforts and serves on the Board of Directors for the Mississippi Historical Society. In 2004, the Mississippi Historical Society awarded him a resolution of merit for his efforts on behalf of history in the state. He also passionately committed to improving education in Mississippi. He serves on the South Pike Public School Board, on the Board of the Mississippi School of the Arts Foundation, and on the Advisory Board for the Center for Southern Culture at Ole Miss. In 2005, the Pike County Board of Supervisors presented him a framed resolution of commendation for his decade of medical service and community leadership in the county. In 2006, he was appointed to the Mississippi State Board of Health, to serve a six year term.

Since October 1997, he has served as editor and publisher of the Magnolia Gazette, an award-winning weekly newspaper in Magnolia, Mississippi. Under his guidance, the Gazette has won more than three dozen state press awards, including first place awards for his editorials. He has also published articles and book reviews in various publications, from the Mark Twain Journal to the Journal of Mississippi History, on Mark Twain, Eudora Welty, and Mississippi medical history, with his work being featured on televised programs on BBC (“Old New World” 1999), History Channel (“Camp Van Dorn Mystery” 2001), CSPAN (“Mark Twain, 2001), Mississippi ETV (“Statewide Live,” 2002), and Turner South (“Liars and Legends,” on Mark Twain, 2003). He authored several entries and the appendix for the Mark Twain Encyclopedia, published by Garland Press in 1993. He spoke on physician/writer Walker Percy at the 2004 Oxford Conference for the Book. He also spoke at the unveiling of the Mississippi Hall of Fame portrait at the Old Capitol for Dr. Felix J. Underwood in 2000.

He is married to the former Louise Lyell of Jackson and they have two sons, Crawford and Garland. The family resides in Magnolia. Louise serves as Associate Business Manager of the Gazette, and Crawford, age 9, has served as a reviewer for restaurants and hot dog stands, as well as active service as the official “Gazette Weather Watcher.” Crawford is the youngest WLBT Weather Watcher in the state.  Garland, age 7, enjoys playing tennis and reading books. (This is what his dad enjoys doing as well!)