The UAB Department of Surgery hosted the Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS) 28th Annual Meeting last week, April 26-28, at Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and the Westin Birmingham. More than 200 surgeons from all over the country traveled to Birmingham to attend the meeting, hosted by the UAB Division of Transplantation's Stephen Gray, M.D., and the UAB Division of Pediatric Surgery's Colin Martin, M.D.
"As a past president of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, it has been a tremendous honor to host this group whose mission it is to support surgeons from all backgrounds," said Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., FACS, senior vice president for medicine and dean of the UAB School of Medicine.
Attendees spent Thursday and Friday, April 26-27, in various sessions at Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium and the Westin before heading to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute on Friday night for a reception and panel discussion featuring University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban. On Saturday, April 28, SBAS members attended sessions and lectures at the Westin before the 2018 SBAS President's Black-Tie Dinner in the Westin Ballroom, where guest speaker and retired U.S. District Court Chief Judge for the Northern District of Alabama U. W. Clemon delivered the keynote address. The new SBAS President Malcom V. Brock, M.D., and UAB Department of Surgery Chair Herbert Chen, M.D., announced the creation of a new visiting lectureship named after Vickers. This lectureship will give junior faculty in SBAS the opportunity to speak at UAB annually.