Love & Medicine: A Story Born at The W

It has been said that memories are made in fleeting moments that we don’t even realize at the time.

For Dr. Jared Mullins (’13) and Dr. Erica Regl Mullins (’15), that moment came during freshmen orientation in 2011 at Mississippi University for Women.

“I was helping as an orientation leader (student volunteer) that day,” Jared said. “I was a junior, and she was a freshman. She happened to be in my orientation group.”

As part of orientation, there was a group tour of the Baptist Student Union and Wesley Foundation, which allowed the pair to get to know each other a bit better. The two bonded over strawberry shortcake, and a friendship was born that would blossom into much more, though neither of them knew it at the time.

“We got to chat a bit, but we were just friends,” Erica said.

The two eventually went out after Jared won a date from an Oktoberfest raffle supporting breast cancer awareness. They went to dinner followed by a stop at the Callaway Hall haunted house.

But their paths were taking them different directions—or so they thought.

Jared was a biology major with a clear idea of his future: to be a cardiologist.

His father, a graduate of The W’s baccalaureate nursing program, had died of a stroke when Jared was just 16 years old.

“Cardiovascular disease in general was something that always stood out to me, and was a bridge into medicine,” Jared said. “I just gravitated to it as a specialty to help treat people who have cardiovascular disease and to help prevent it.”

Biology was his way into the field, and what better place than his father’s alma mater? He knew he was bound for medical school after that.

Erica, however, was a kinesiology and exercise science major. Coincidentally, she too had a familial reason to pursue her passion—though her reasoning was ultimately twofold.

“When I was younger, my aunt had a few very interesting injuries,” she said. “She always spoke highly of how physical therapy brought her through a very difficult time in her life that was much more than an injury, but also, unfortunately, the loss of her first child. Her physical therapist helped her with the emotional part too.”

The other influence for Erica came via growing up near a military base in a post 9-11 America.

“Most of my friends and their parents were involved in the Air Force, and so growing up, there was a lot of talk of Iraq and 9-11 and a lot of my friends wound up going into some branch of the military,” she said. “I knew that wasn’t for me, but I also knew that I wanted to give back in some way. And I did notice some of my friends’ parents coming back with injuries, and as I got older, my friends themselves coming back with injuries. I was like, ‘This is how I can give back. This is something I can do.’”

As far as why she chose The W, Erica also had family connections. Her mother graduated from The W’s education program. Her father, years after Erica herself had already graduated, decided to further his education and went back to school at The W as well. Before that, however, Erica attended the Mississippi Governor’s School on The W’s campus, as well as the various summer leadership camps and the biology camps at the Plymouth Bluff Environmental Center.

“A common joke in our family is that we’re a bunch of W girls,” Erica said with a laugh. “There are a lot of W diplomas at my parents’ house.”

The two fell out of touch once Jared graduated and set his sights on medical school. He was accepted into William Carey University in Hattiesburg.

Unbeknownst to either of them, they would both attend the university. This twist of fate would spark a relationship that has withstood the test of time.

“She came to William Carey for physical therapy school and the doctoral programs there are in the same building sometimes,” said Jared. “We reconnected, and I asked her out again. The timing seemed a little better, and we hit it off and started dating seriously and then got engaged two years later.”

The pair now have an 18-month-old son, Hayden Mullins, who is their pride and joy.

The two Mississippians have since traveled all over the country as Jared continues his training. The trek has included stops in Hattiesburg; Corinth; Augusta, Georgia, where Hayden was born, and now Chicago, where he is in an interventional and structural cardiology fellowship at Loyola University.

His ultimate goal, being a structural cardiologist, will require 16 total years of school from the bachelor program to the final fellowship.

Erica received her doctorate of physical therapy, which involved three years of postgraduate studies. During her time as a physical therapist in training, she served in hospitals, home health services and clinics. However, the experience that stands out the most to her is when she traveled to Jamaica to help treat stroke patients.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to see a whole other perspective,” she said. “I feel like we take for granted the health opportunities that we have here in America.”

She currently works for Upstream Rehabilitation, which is a national company, under their Benchmark brand.

Throughout their post graduate studies, the two never forgot where they formed the base for their educational prowess, The W.

“You might think that at a small college you’re not really going to broaden your horizons, but there’s so many opportunities like the Disney program and other study abroad opportunities, there’s plenty to really make you a whole individual,” Erica said. “There’s better community. You don’t get lost in the numbers.”