Seth Landefeld, MD, Department of Medicine Chairman

I am delighted to update you on all that’s happening in the Department of Medicine. The Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program is the heart and soul of the Department. I attend on the Tinsley Service each July and January, where I have learned time and again that UAB provides the best clinical training anywhere. I welcome you to visit on service any time you’d like.

Like the Residency, the Department of Medicine is vital and thriving. Our 240 clinical faculty are growing our inpatient and outpatient programs, with 10% more patients coming to UAB each year. Cardiology’s four-year-old TAVR program, for example, has now provided more than 300 patients with aortic valves. This ranks us at #11 in the U.S. for volume. The outcomes have been life-altering, giving people like former Selma police chief Earnest Tate, a viable alternative to higher-risk open heart surgery. 

We continue to build an outstanding leadership team. Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH, an international leader in the management and prevention of sexually transmitted infections and HIV, joined us as Division Director of Infectious Diseases from the University of Washington this spring. Also, Monica Baskin, PhD, a leading researcher in the reduction of health disparities, will serve as the Department’s first Vice Chair for Diversity and Culture to foster our culture of respect and inclusion.

Our 100 research-oriented faculty make breakthrough discoveries every day. Steve Rowe and his colleagues have identified acquired defects in Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) as a likely contributor to COPD, and they have begun a clinical trial of the first potentially disease-modifying treatment in people with COPD. The Department’s NIH funding has grown 26% in four years, and is on track to put us among the top ten Departments of Medicine in the U.S. by 2020.

This year, we are especially celebrating Gustavo Heudebert, MD, as a great teacher and leader. Tavo led the Residency Program from 2002-2012 and now directs all GME for UAB. The Gustavo R. Heudebert, MD, MACP, Endowment in General Internal Medicine will support an outstanding medical educator in Tavo’s honor. I hope you will join me and dozens of our faculty in honoring Tavo with your gift.

I’d love to give you a personal update anytime you are in Birmingham. Let me know any time you’d like to visit.

Best regards,


C. Seth Landefeld, M.D.
Professor and Chair, UAB Department of Medicine