In 2023, a grateful family donated a gift of $100,000 to establish the Edward E. Partridge, M.D. Endowed Faculty Scholar for Gynecologic Oncology. The purpose of the endowment is to support the research, scholarly, and/or clinical efforts of a distinguished junior faculty member in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology.

Dr. Partridge is a Professor Emeritus in the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as the Director Emeritus of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. Raised in Demopolis, Alabama, he graduated from both the University of Alabama, as well as the now named Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Following training at UAB in both Obstetrics & Gynecology (1973-77) as well as Gynecologic Oncology (1977-1979), Dr. Partridge worked in private practice before joining the faculty full time in 1990 and served as Division Director in Gynecologic Oncology from 1990-2003. Following his leadership in the division and department, he served as the acting Director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer before being named the permanent Director and served in this capacity for 10 years from 2007-2017. Principally his goals in practice were the eradication of healthcare disparities especially among the citizens of the Alabama Black Belt. This was addressed primarily by National Cancer Institute (NCI) funded creation of the Deep South Network for Cancer Control among countless other projects.

The inaugural receipt of the Partridge Faculty Scholar is Teresa K. L. Boitano, M.D., assistant professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology. Like Dr. Partridge, Dr. Boitano is from a rural area, namely Gallup, New Mexico, where her father served in the Indian Health Services as a Primary Care Provider. Dr. Boitano completed both her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology (2016-2020) as well as a fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology (2020-2023) at UAB. Like Dr. Partridge, she is focused on working to eliminate inequities in cervical cancer diagnoses and treatment and was also recently selected as an American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Foundation (AAOGF) three-year grant recipient for her project entitled, “Improving minority and rural patient enrollment in gynecologic oncology therapeutic clinical trials.” Congratulations to Dr. Boitano for her selection of this prestigious endowment.