The UAB Department of Surgery is honored to welcome two new faculty members to the department – Drs. Jillian McCabe and Shelby Svientek.

“Our department has seen continued growth across the state of Alabama and surrounding areas for the many specialized services we provide to help improve the lives and well-being of our patients,” says Fay Fletcher Kerner Endowed Chair of the UAB Department of Surgery Dr. Herbert Chen. “Welcoming Drs. McCabe and Svientek will help us to offer additional care in the realm of both surgical oncology and plastic surgery to Birmingham and the areas beyond the greater metropolitan region.”

Learn more about them here:

• Jillian McCabe, M.D., has joined the UAB Division of Surgical Oncology as a clinical assistant professor. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where she also completed her general surgery residency. She then matriculated to the Saint John’s Cancer Institute, where she finished her fellowship in general surgical oncology. Through her education, Dr. McCabe has been numerous times recognized for her outstanding work. In 2022, she was awarded the Walter Capote Outstanding Resident Educator Award. She is also the recipient of the Julian G. Fleming Scholarship, American Medical Association Scholars Fund Recipient, and Intermountain Healthcare Shining Star Award, among many other awards. As clinical assistant professor, Dr. McCabe's primary practice location is Infirmary Health in Mobile, Alabama. Her areas of interest include: melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer, liver metastases, and surgical education. Dr. McCabe is also certified by the American Board of Surgery.
  
  
• Shelby Svientek, M.D., is an assistant professor in the UAB Division Plastic Surgery. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois, Dr. Svientek earned her medical degree from the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Svientek completed the Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency and the Pediatric Plastic and Craniofacial Surgery Fellowship at the University of Michigan. During her training, she conducted research as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) F32 postdoctoral research fellow and was the AO Foundation’s Craniomaxillofacial (CMF) North America fellow. Dr. Svientek’s research interests include tissue engineering and related neuromuscular interfaces that facilitate rapid detection of motor intent to provide physiologic control of advanced prosthetics; tracking patient-reported and postoperative outcomes following pediatric plastic surgery; and developing artificial intelligence-assisted generative patient education and assessment tools for the pediatric surgical population.