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

What a year! And our Tinsley Harrison Residency Program and Department have never been better. Our residents have responded with tremendous professionalism and resilience, day in and day out, through unprecedented challenges. The program continues to adapt and flex, innovating in how we care for our patients, care for each other, and advance learning.

The housestaff, led by Drs. Lisa Willett and Jason Morris, and our current chiefs, with our faculty are addressing the sharp rise in COVID hospitalizations. Many have volunteered to work during their planned holiday break to fill in on added inpatient Surge Teams and MICU service. Though the situation is neither merry nor bright, we provide the best care anywhere for our patients across intensive, acute, and ambulatory settings. Our mission is critical, and we are committed to its success.

A gleaming ray of hope is the news that the first doses of the Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 vaccine will be administered at UAB. Plans are underway for how we will deliver them to those currently working in the health care setting who have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients with COVID-19. We are also involved in COVID research that shows tremendous promise. Dr. Bob Centor recently interviewed our own infectious diseases professor Dr. Paul Goepfert, who presented his Primer on COVID vaccines in the Annals on Call podcast.

Recruitment season has transitioned to a digital platform. Thanks to extraordinary teamwork— and Zoom—we are introducing applicants to Birmingham and UAB in ways that are warm and hospitable, although we all miss meeting in-person. Many have written to let us know that they could feel Tinsley Harrison’s “contagious fire” in their time with us.

While COVID has certainly been at the fore this year, the Department of Medicine has much to report in other areas. We are finding new ways to care for people with substance use disorder and train others to care for these people. We are proactively transitioning pediatric patients with chronic illness to adult care. We are pushing the frontiers of medicine with new treatments for serious illness; for example, Steve Rowe and his colleagues are extending their knowledge of cystic fibrosis to new treatments for other chronic lung diseases. And two of our Division Directors will become Chairs of other Departments of Medicine: Cynthia Brown will lead the Department at LSU and Victor Thannickal will head Tulane’s Department.

Even in 2020’s sea of constant change, one thing remains the same. The Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program is thriving. Every day we find ways to exemplify “excellence without ego” and build a legacy that endures. If you would like to help in any way, or I can help you, be in touch.

With best regards, 
Seth