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The Robert E. Reed Gastrointestinal Oncology Research Foundation and the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center will host the Third Annual Living with Cancer Symposium on Monday, May 21, at the UAB Alumni House from 1-4 p.m.

UAB Department of Surgery Communications Director Megan Yeatts works with Assistant Professor of Transplantation Jared White, M.D., to record his presentation.

The inaugural Surgical Education Committee is excited to announce a change to the resident education curriculum for the 2018-2019 year. The committee, under the direction of general surgery resident Laura Hickman, M.D., with faculty mentor Jared White, M.D., includes Adam Witcher, M.D., Margaux Mustian, M.D., Samantha Baker, M.D., John Killian, M.D., Quince Gibson, M.D., and Cozette Kale, M.D.

Instead of weekly lectures, the majority of education will comprise online pre-recorded lectures by UAB faculty with associated multiple-choice questions. In-person learning will be reserved for small-group, oral-board-style questions. The goal of the committee is to maximize learner efficiency with succinct, rotation-specific learning while minimizing in-person meetings that might detract from clinical learning opportunities.

The committee is grateful to faculty members Jared White, M.D., Sushanth Reddy, M.D., and Lauren Tanner, M.D., for recording videos and to communications staff Megan Yeatts and Anna Waters for the providing technical support for the pilot project. However, more faculty volunteers are still needed to record 30-minute lectures with supplemental powerpoints (the committee will provide an outline, equipment and quiet space to record). Please contact Laura Hickman, M.D., or any of the other Surgical Education Committee members to volunteer for a topic or for more information.

UAB medical students Kathryn Hudak (top) and Mary Smithson (bottom) match into the UAB General Surgery Residency Program on Match Day, March 16, 2018, at Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium.

Match Day 2018 ushered in a new group of surgery residents, while saying goodbye to others who will soon leave UAB for different programs across the country. With 98 percent of students’ matching into residency positions, UAB students will continue their medical educations at 74 institutions across 27 states.

More than 30 surgeons and administrators from Johns Hopkins, Rush, WVU and Yale attended the April Catalyst program, a joint partnership with Intuitive Surgical, on Friday, April 13 at the West Pavilion Conference Center, where UAB shared the details of its successful robotics program over the course of the day and several sessions.

Rihannon Reed

Rhiannon Deierhoi Reed, M.P.H., a member of Dr. Jayme Locke’s Transplant Epidemiology and Analytics in Medicine lab, recently placed first at the 13th annual UAB Health Disparities Research Symposium, winning a 2018 Charles Barkley Health Disparities Investigator Award for her presentation, “Geographic Disparities in Rates of End-Stage Renal Disease and Organ Supply in Gulf States Compared to Non-Gulf States.”

Dr. David Cleveland

The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery’s David Cleveland, M.D., was recently appointed to serve as a member of the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association’s Early Specialization Committee. Cleveland’s term is for two years, from May 2018 through May 2020.

Dr. Brenessa Lindeman

The Division of Surgical Oncology’s Brenessa Lindeman, M.D., M.P.H., was recently accepted to the Harvard Macy Institute’s 2018 Program for Leading Innovations in Health Care and Education. The course will be held from June 10-15, 2018, in Boston, Massachusetts, and will examine patient care and healthcare education from a systems perspective, through the lens of disruptive innovation. In this course, participants and faculty collaborate to develop strategies and action plans for leading innovation within their own evolving health care delivery systems and institutions.

Dr. Elizabeth Beierle

The Division of Pediatric Surgery’s Elizabeth Beierle, M.D., was recently awarded a Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentorship. The Dean's Excellence in Mentorship Award recognizes full-time regular UAB faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments as mentors of graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows.

Dr. Abhisek Parmar

The Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery’s Abhisek Parmar, M.D., recently received The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract’s Carol and Tom R. DeMeester Traveling Fellowship for Surgeons within the U.S. or Canada. The goal of this traveling fellowship is to promote interaction and learning among SSAT members within North America. As part of the fellowship, Parmar will visit a University-affiliated or academic practice of his choosing, within the United States or Canada, for a period of six to ten days, under the sponsorship of an SSAT member at the hosting institution.

Stephen A. Watts, Ph.D.,, joins the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery as a secondary faculty from the UAB College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology. Already an integral part of a team on campus studying gut-brain disease comorbidity, Watts will continue this research involving gastrointestinal disorders and inter-systemic biomedicine while working with the Department of Surgery.

The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery welcomes Luz A. Padilla, M.D., M.S.P.H., as a secondary faculty. Currently an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Padilla will bring her expertise to the Department of Surgery while working closely with Professor of Surgery and Section Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Robert Dabal, M.D.

This year’s Women in Surgery events featured Sharon M. Weber, M.D., F.A.C.S., chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Wisconsin. At the Monday night Women in Surgery networking event at The Wine Loft on April 9, Weber addressed the challenges of forging your own path in the world of academic surgery, and at Surgery Grand Rounds on April 10, Weber gave a talk on surgical transitional care, specifically how to improve results after complex abdominal surgery.

Women in Surgery 2018

General surgery resident Robert Hollis, M.D., took the reins on the @UABSurgery Twitter account for 24 hours last week to live-tweet a day in the life of a surgery resident training in Australia, as part of our #UABDownUnder Twitter takeover.

The Young Supporters Board of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center will present Fiesta Ball 2018, an evening with live music, delicious food by Happy Catering and a silent auction Friday, May 4, 7-11 p.m. at Haven, 2515 Sixth Ave. South.

UAB is honored to host the 28th Annual Meeting of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons April 26-28, 2018, at the Westin, Birmingham. We would like a strong turnout of UAB medical students and residents at the meeting. The meeting consists of peer reviewed scientific presentations, invited lectures, leadership development for young attendees, and academic mentoring opportunities. There will be career development sessions specifically for residents.

UAB is honored to host the 28th Annual Meeting of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons April 26-28, 2018, at the Westin, Birmingham. As part of the meeting, the organization is offering the following career development sessions specifically for students interested in surgery.

From March 26 – April 6, UAB medical students will attend the Department of Surgery’s annual Surgery Boot Camp in order to prepare for their upcoming internships. Surgery Boot Camp gives students interested in pursuing surgery or a related procedure-based specialty the opportunity to attend interactive lectures, work in hands-on skills stations and take part in real-to-life patient simulations.

The Division of Transplantation’s Jayme Locke, M.D., has won a 2018 Association for Clinical and Translational Science Distinguished Investigator Award. This particular ACTS Distinguished Investigator Award, the Translation into Public Benefit and Policy award, recognizes achievement in applying translational research findings into effective public policies that promote health.

Dr. Brenessa Lindeman

UAB was recently selected as a pilot site for the American Board of Surgery’s Entrustable Professional Activities project, making our General Surgery Residency Program one of only 26 programs in the U.S. piloting the use of the EPAs framework in residency evaluation for the American Board of Surgery.

Dr. David ClevelandThe Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery’s David Cleveland, M.D., was recently appointed to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Workforce on E-Learning and Educational Innovation. As a member of this workforce, Cleveland will be responsible for the development and maintenance of an electronic learning system for thoracic surgery and the exploration of innovative educational methods and associated technologies.

The 2018 General Surgery CME Course was held at The Westin Birmingham. Allan Tsung, M.D., and Gina Adrales, M.D., M.P.H., served as the event's featured speakers. Tsung is the Vice Chair of Research at the University of Pittsburg Department of Surgery, while Adrales is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of the Division of Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University.

The UAB Department of Surgery's Jeffrey Kerby, M.D., Daniel Chu, M.D., Adam Beck, M.D., Kristi Herritz, Herbert Chen, M.D., Melanie Morris, M.D., and Greg Kennedy, M.D., Ph.D., attend the 2018 Surgical Update Conference in Cape Town Africa on Feb. 27. (Photo courtesy of Daniel Chu, M.D., via Twitter)

A contingent of UAB surgeons travelled to Cape Town, South Africa, in late February to the Surgical Update Conference 2018 hosted by University of Cape Town Division of General Surgery. The conference was a great opportunity to share knowledge and build new research and education partnerships between the two institutions. This invitation developed out of ongoing collaboration between transplant surgeon Jayme Locke, M.D., and South African surgeon Elmi Muller, who pioneered HIV-positive kidney transplants using deceased HIV-positive donors at Groote Schuur Hospital at the University of Cape Town in 2007. Read more about their work here.

The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery welcomes three new faculty this month: Christopher G. A. McGregor, M.B., F.R.C.S., M.D. (Hon.); Guerard W. Byrne, Ph.D., and Rongbing Xie, Dr.P.H., M.P.H.

Four Department of Surgery faculty were recently named to various positions within the Society of University Surgeons.

Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery Director Greg Kennedy, M.D., Ph.D., was recently elected president-elect of the Society of University Surgeons.

Dr. Bart RoseThe Division of Surgical Oncology’s  Bart Rose, M.D., M.A.S., has received a $20,000 Central Surgical Association Foundation Elsevier, Inc. Enrichment Award for his research proposal, “Targeted Treatment of Metastatic GI Neuroendocrine Tumors.” Rose will be officially recognized for receiving the award at the CSA 2018 Annual Meeting, March 15-17, in Columbus, Ohio.

Dr. James KirklinThe Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery's  James K. Kirklin, M.D., director of The James and John Kirklin Institute for Research in Surgical Outcomes, gave two talks at the 21st Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease last month in Scottsdale, Arizona. During the Feb. 22 session, "Surgical Strategies for Complex Conditions," Kirklin spoke on aortic valve repair, and during a Feb. 24 plenary session, he delivered the 18th Annual C. Walton Lillehei Memorial Lecture in Cardiovascular Surgery. C. W. Lillehei, M.D., is considered the father of open heart surgery due to his pioneering efforts in the field, beginning at the University of Minnesota as long ago as 1954.

Zachary BurnsMedical student Zachary Burns, mentee of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery's Robert Dabal, M.D., was recently selected as one of the UAB Department of Pediatrics Russell Cunningham Memorial Research Scholars for Summer 2018.

On Tuesday, the UAB Department of Surgery celebrated and honored former department chair Kirby I. Bland, M.D.., with the 2018 Kirby I. Bland, M.D., Visiting Lectureship. Eastern Virginia Medical School’s Department of Surgery Chair L.D. Britt, M.D., M.P.H., D.Sc. (Hon.), F.A.C.S., F.C.C.M., presented his talk, “The State of Healthcare in America: Major Challenges for Integrated Academic Health Systems — What Should be the Strategies to Address Them?,” as the lectureship’s visiting professor. Britt is an esteemed leader in the field of surgery and long-time colleague and friend of Bland.

Dr. Herb ChenDepartment of Surgery Chair Herb Chen, M.D., will join the American Board of Surgery’s board of directors for a six-year term starting this July. ABS is the national certifying body for general surgeons and related specialists. In addition to Chen, ABS welcomes seven other directors to the board from various surgery organizations. All ABS directors are currently certified by the ABS and meeting the requirements of the ABS Maintenance of Certification Program.

Dr. Abhishek ParmarThe Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery's Abhisek Parmar, M.D., has received a $60,000 2018 Career Development Award from the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons Research and Career Development Committee and the SAGES Board of Governors. This award was made possible through a grant from the SAGES Education and Research Foundation.