Match Day 2019 ushered in a new group of surgery residents, while saying goodbye to others who will soon leave UAB for different programs across the country. With 98 percent of students matching into residency positions, UAB students will continue their medical educations at 89 institutions across 30 states.

In an ongoing series, the Department of Surgery will feature incoming and outgoing trainees for all UAB Surgery programs. This week, learn about the General Surgery Residency Program’s eight new categorical interns.

Hello:

This year, UAB celebrates a successful recruitment for residents in its 37 residency programs. A total of 216 new residents, representing 67 U.S. and 26 international universities, will begin this summer in programs at Birmingham, Huntsville, Selma and Montgomery.

This year, the General Surgery Residency Program welcomes eight new categorical interns from Alabama, Georgia, North Dakota, North Carolina, Florida and China. Of those eight categorical interns, three are UAB students: Shelby Bergstresser, Adam Lucy and Burke Smith.

Bergstresser said she was excited to stay at UAB and join the Department of Surgery team after having worked with the department previously.

“I fell in love with surgery during med school,” she said. “After rotating and interviewing at UAB, I knew that this is my home.”

In 2018, Bergstresser received the Southeastern Surgical Congress Gold Medal Award for the liver cancer research she conducted as a medical student under the mentorship of our Department of Surgery faculty. She also presented her research at last year’s Academic Surgical Congress in Jacksonville, Florida.

“For the past month, I’ve been hoping to match into this amazing program, and now that it’s a reality, I can’t wait to start my residency training,” Bergstresser said.

Incoming Residents:

Goodbye:

Five graduating chief residents of the General Surgery Residency Program will leave UAB to take positions in fellowship programs at five different institutions in five different states throughout the country. Two residents, Margaret Romine, M.D., and her husband Matthew Romine, M.D., will stay in Birmingham to pursue fellowships at UAB in transplantation and minimally invasive surgery, respectively.

The 2019 Chiefs’ Dinner, celebrating the graduation of this year’s class, will be held on June 14 at the Florentine. Cocktails will begin at 5 p.m., and dinner will be served at 6 p.m. Additionally, for the fourth year in a row, the department will host alumni events, including the Marshall M. Urist Alumni Golf Tournament at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Oxmoor Valley and a Night at the Birmingham Barons at Regions Field, both on June 15. 

Outgoing Residents: