Craig Hoesley, M.D., received a Dean’s Award for Excellence in Medical Education and Mentorship at the December 2012 meeting of the School of Medicine Executive Committee. Hoesley, associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, helped UAB medical students expand services through Equal Access Birmingham. EAB has operated a Wednesday-night clinic with M-Power Ministries in the Avondale area of Birmingham since 2007. On Nov. 11, the students opened a Sunday-afternoon clinic downtown at the Church of the Reconciler. Both clinics are free, and are run and staffed by students.“The new clinic was a great opportunity for our students to learn how to build a clinic from the ground up,” Hoesley said. “It took a tremendous amount of work to create it.”
Both locations, Hoesley said, care for people who are homeless, underserved or uninsured. “There are people who just fall through the cracks,” he said.
In presenting the honor, Ray L. Watts, senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the UAB School of Medicine, said Hoesley went above and beyond in helping the students meet a tremendous need in the community while enhancing their education through service learning.
“When I asked Dr. Hoesley who is providing faculty oversight for the clinic, he told me he was doing it personally so it would not over burden faculty who serve our Avondale clinic,” Watts said. “For our students, Dr. Hoesley represents the best of a medical school experience. He not only brings his expertise and knowledge to bear on creating an excellent education, he puts his heart into helping students excel and rolls up his sleeves to help get the work done.”
Dean’s Awards are given at the dean’s discretion in recognition of outstanding performance in helping UAB become the most preferred academic medical center of the 21st Century.