This spring, the UAB Department of Surgery will join the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, Stanford University and the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital of Harvard University in a new multi-institutional partnership that seeks to help faculty and trainees reach their professional goals.

Dr. Emily Spangler

Two UAB Surgery faculty, Emily Spangler, M.D., and Melanie Morris, M.D., will work together on this project to develop departmental strategies to achieve the objectives of the partnership.

“We look forward to learning from partner institutions and sharing our experience with creating an environment that fosters professional development and growth,” Spangler said.

Dr. Melanie Morris

This consortium of academic surgery institutions and leaders, called the Promise Coalition, was developed from the University of Michigan’s Michigan Promise and seeks to provide professional support for faculty and trainees, as well as to act as institutional partners for multi-institutional interventional trials designed to measure and improve diversity, equity and inclusion. Within the primary goals of the Coalition, the five departments of surgery included in this partnership will also define their own strategies to reach these goals.