2021-2022 Chief Medical Residents: Drs. Will Morgan, Anne Wagstaff, Lindsey Shipley, and Sal Kamal

"I'm ready to go. Where's the need?" As we reflect on our year as chiefs, those words from our residents stuck with us. Throughout every phase of the pandemic, our residents have demonstrated compassion, camaraderie, and strength. During the peak of the Omicron wave, we secured an entire cadre of back-up surge residents, on a volunteer basis, within minutes of sending the email. Our housestaff are amazing, and we remain humbled by their willingness to serve.

Despite the pandemic, we instituted multiple exciting curricular reforms. This year, we implemented full-day continuity clinics so residents could focus on primary care without being preoccupied by inpatient responsibilities, and we transformed the CCU rotation to enhance our housestaff's ability to care for critically ill patients experiencing cardiogenic shock, acute coronary syndromes, and lethal arrhythmias. Next year, we will strenthen our neurology rotation by creating a month-long experience that includes consults and clinics led by the department's highest-rated educators, and we are revamping the oncology service to pair internal medicine and oncology attendings to optimize the educational experience. We also will launch a new urgent care clinic at Cooper Green to provide interns with the knowledge and skills to care for underserved patients in our community.

We are thankful that Spring has brought a reduction in COVID cases, which has allowed our program to reinstate many of our favorite social events. We hosted the interns for our annual burnout party, and we restarted the yearly Crawfish boil at Dr. Gustavo Heudebert's house (sangria and all!). We hope to host our Spring Party graduation ceremony in May, where we celebrate our residents’ many accomplishments in the prior year. Seeing our residents, staff, and program leadership outside of the hospital has brought us so much joy. Finally, we are excited for the future. Dr. Willett has been an incredible leader of the residency for the past decade, and Dr. Kraemer will do a wonderful job as Program Director starting in June. Our new chief residents are outstanding, and we are thrilled to welcome a new class of 37 categorical and two ABIM interns this summer. The Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program is in good hands. We will always cherish this chapter of our lives, and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve as chief residents.

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Sal Kamal will be staying at UAB for one year as an academic general internist. Afterwards, he, his wife Sushma, and his daughter Saadiya will move to LA, where Sal will start a public health fellowship at UCLA. He’s extremely thankful for his co-residents, faculty, staff, and program directors at UAB GIM, which has become a second family for him.

Will Morgan will be starting his general cardiology fellowship at UAB this summer. He would choose UAB for residency training all over again if he could, and he is very thankful to have had the opportunity to spend an extra year working in the residency program with such incredible residents and program leadership. The chief resident year has provided memories that he will look back on and cherish throughout his career.

Lindsey Shipley will be staying at UAB to start her Gastroenterology and Hepatology fellowship in July. She and her husband, Adam, have a 1-month-old son Oliver. They have loved their time in Birmingham and are very excited to be staying to continue Lindsey’s training.

Anne Wagstaff will be moving to Fredericksburg, VA, with her husband and 1-year-old son, Samuel, where she is starting a primary care position at Mary Washington Healthcare. She has loved her eight years at UAB completing medical school, residency, and a chief year. She is immensely grateful for her co-residents and the countless faculty that have mentored her throughout this time. Chief year has been a wonderful experience working alongside the best team imaginable, and she will certainly miss her UAB family.