After 12 years as regional dean of the Huntsville Regional Medical Campus and a long career as a professor of Medicine, Robert M. Centor, M.D., will retire from the UAB School of Medicine in summer 2016. “I feel very fortunate to have been recruited to UAB, and thus far, my career has been a complete pleasure,” Centor said.
Centor was recruited to UAB in 1993 as director of the Division of General Internal Medicine, after more than a decade on faculty at the Medical College of Virginia. He served in the role until 2008. He was also the interim dean of the Tuscaloosa Regional Campus from 1995 to 1997.
“Dr. Centor is an outstanding clinician-educator, investigator and national leader in internal medicine,” said Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., F.A.C.S., senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the School of Medicine. “Through his tireless efforts, he restored our Huntsville campus to a level of prominence as an exceptional place for educators and training of students and residents.”
The Huntsville Regional Medical Campus is home to both the Family Medicine Residency and Internal Medicine Residency programs, as well as the Rural Medicine Program, a medical student training program aimed to develop physicians with the skills to practice in rural areas and small towns. Each year, 72 third- and fourth-year students complete their clinical training at the Huntsville campus after completing the basic science curriculum in the first two years of medical school in Birmingham.
“The greatest part of the job has always been helping students and residents grow. Because of the size of the Huntsville campus, I had the privilege to know every student and resident and individualize our interactions,” Centor said. “I hope I’ve been able to influence them in their careers and help them on their journey to become great physicians.”
Centor earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1971 and began his medical education at the Medical College of Virginia, graduating in 1975. He completed a residency at the Medical College of Virginia before joining the school’s faculty in 1981.
He is active in several professional organizations, including serving in 2014-2015 as chair of the American College of Physicians. Centor was elected in 2014 to Mastership in the ACP, one of the highest honors available to internists. He is also a past-president of the Society of General Internal Medicine, charter member of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine and founding president of the Association of Chiefs & Leaders in General Internal Medicine.
Though he is retiring from his administrative duties, Centor said he plans to continue teaching in a part-time capacity.
“What I love most is teaching medical students and residents at the hospital bedside,” Centor said. “I will continue to do that for the foreseeable future.”
School of Medicine leaders are now in the process of identifying a search committee, to include faculty from both the Birmingham and Huntsville campuses, to begin the search for a new dean for the Huntsville Regional Campus.