Seth Landefeled, MD, Department of Medicine ChairmanThe fall has been filled with many good things in the Department of Medicine, and I am delighted to report some of the highlights to you.The Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program grows each year as a coveted place to learn and work. We have had a bumper crop of applicants for the ABIM research pathway, we are interviewing some of the best fourth-year medical students we’ve ever seen, and we just had 100% of the residents who applied for fellowship match with the program of their choice for the second consecutive year. We have interviewed outstanding students from across the country. Our applicants have a wide variety of backgrounds and interests, from interventional cardiology to the effects of violence against women, from primary care to precision medicine for leukemia. Latesha Elopre, MD (Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and a graduate of our residency) leads our Diversity Enrichment Committee, which has welcomed a record number of applicants from underrepresented groups.
Dr. Carl E. Dukes, Chief Medical Resident 1979-1980 has catalyzed our efforts to enhance the diversity of the Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program with a transformative financial commitment. At our Department Holiday Reception, we celebrated his generosity with a resolution from our Board of Trustees establishing the “Carl E. Dukes, MD, Minority Residency Pipeline Endowed Support Fund.” Read more about this dynamic alumnus in Jori May’s interview.
We recently honored the Sickle Cell Disease Association, Central Alabama Chapter, which supported the development of our Adult Sickle Cell Program led by Rita Paschal, MD (Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology). Sharon Lewis, the Foundation’s Executive Director, led the Foundation’s Board of Directors in its tireless and successful work raising $1 million for the program. We are grateful to the Birmingham community and the Foundation for their support of our efforts to care for people with the most common orphan disease affecting black Alabamians.
We took an exciting and novel approach to describing the State of the Department this year. Twenty-seven faculty members and Chief Residents told their stories about fun, programs, and things that keep them up at night. I hope you will watch our faculty in this video post. We heard about shared successes like measuring gait speed with an iPhone, faculty who inspired healthy behavior interventions, and our residents’ health disparities track to teach and improve culturally competent care. I am thrilled to work with all of the faculty, staff, and trainees who make our Department so wonderful. We aim to be the most fun Department in the country. We’re well on the way!
Our Divisions have been extraordinarily successful in recruiting to build the faculty of the future. The Division of Infectious Diseases has recruited a new Director, Jeanne Marazzo, MD, from Seattle where she is Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and Director of the Seattle STD/HIV Prevention Training Center. Internationally recognized in the field of sexually transmitted infections, Dr. Marrazzo will build on the great work of our current Director, Edward W. Hook, III, MD, who has led the Division with the largest research program in the Department for the past five years.
I hope you enjoy this update. I’d love to give you a personal update anytime you are in Birmingham. We’d love to see you back at UAB!
Best regards,
C. Seth Landefeld, M.D.
Professor and Chair, UAB Department of Medicine