Dr. Seth Landefeld, MD, Professor and Chair, UAB Department of Medicine

I write with a heavy heart, and with hope that each of you is faring as well as possible in these challenging times. Nothing about COVID-19 has been easy, but our residency program is a bright light in the midst of this national pandemic. I am unspeakably proud of how resilient and caring this community of physicians has proved to be, as you will see in this issue of Letters to Tinsley.

And beyond COVID, the murder of George Floyd and our heightened awareness of the racial violence and social injustice that have been woven into our country’s history from the beginning have left me heart-broken. I am just beginning a journey of listening and learning from my Black colleagues on our faculty, in our residency, and on our staff. I hope you will join me on this path, and I hope this path will lead us all to actions that will redress and reform the wrongs we have inherited and lived with our whole lives.

In this era of COVID, we have consistently cared for between 50 and 60 very ill patients in our COVID units and in our MICU since the beginning of the outbreak in Alabama. We are fortunate to have incomparable ICU nursing support that manages our proning protocols, and tremendous leadership from the finest pulmonary and critical care faculty in the world. Drs. Tracy Luckhardt, Steve Stigler, and Jim Johnson in particular coordinated our growing number of ICU teams with calm, steady guidance. And we have seen miraculous recoveries, including a UAB police officer who went to rehab after spending 59 days in the hospital and weeks on a ventilator with ARDS.

Our Infectious Diseases experts have also risen to the challenge of advising both our health system leaders, our own personnel, and the community at large on how to control the spread of infection and flatten the curve. You have no doubt seen our ID Division Director Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo on CNN and other national news outlets, as well as our outstanding epidemiologist Dr. Rachael Lee. Many, many others have stepped up to establish new clinics, serve in Employee Health, and begin important COVID research in an effort to combat this disease.

As we have worked tirelessly on our academic campus, we have been so fortunate to have the support of both our Jefferson County Health Department and the City of Birmingham, who have demonstrated their unswerving commitment to protect the public health of our citizens. These partnerships have enabled us to go beyond the walls of our hospital and clinics, to reach out into the community with walk-up and drive-up testing sights in vulnerable areas.

You will also be proud to know that our DOM experts have banded together to address COVID-19 as we do best, with diligent scholarship. Our virtual Medical Grand Rounds have covered this disease from multiple angles, and the recordings are available for CME credit via the UAB MD Learning Channel. And if you’re free on Wednesday, June 17, please drop in on the call to hear from Program Director Dr. Lisa Willett and Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education Dr. Craig Hoesley, as they present “National Conversations on Medical Education.” It’s sure to be an informative lecture.

COVID will be with us for a long time, and it likely will continue to exacerbate the suffering of so many from injustice and racial violence as well as from the disease and unemployment. I hope you will join me in reaching out to others, especially our Black colleagues and any who have suffered, in listening and learning, and in taking steps, even small ones, to abate suffering.

Until next issue,
Seth