Alumni and faculty, including Urist Society President Dr. Graeme McFarland (second from right), attend the fourth annual Marshall M. Urist, M.D., Society Golf Tournament at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Oxmoor Valley on June 15, 2019. (Photo Courtesy of Jamie Moody)
UAB vascular and endovascular surgeon Graeme McFarland, M.D., has been named president of the UAB Marshall M. Urist, M.D., General Surgery Residency Society.
A Birmingham, Alabama, native and a graduate of both the UAB School of Medicine and the UAB General Surgery Residency, McFarland returned to UAB in 2018 to join the Department of Surgery faculty as an assistant professor in the Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy.
“It is an honor for me to be named the Marshall M. Urist, M.D., Society president,” McFarland said. “I have revered Dr. Urist since I first encountered him as a medical student here at UAB, and I owe a lot to the General Surgery Residency Program, which he ran for many years.”
The Urist Society was founded in 2016 with a mission to engage alumni and provided support for innovative educational opportunities that cultivate residents’ clinical expertise and character, preparing them to become the next generation of leaders in surgery.
Through generous donations from alumni, faculty and friends, the Urist Society, has offered unique opportunities for residents by funding travel to conferences, resident research, international training experiences, program facilities and more.
As president, McFarland said he aims to provide a sense of community among alumni and inspire ongoing philanthropic support for the UAB General Surgery Residency and its programs.
“I am thankful for the opportunity presented by this new position,” McFarland said. “It is my hope that I am successful in increasing membership and involvement within the Society during my term.”
Just last month, the Society hosted its fourth annual Marshall M. Urist, M.D., Society Golf Tournament in conjunction with the UAB General Surgery Residency Program’s 2019 alumni weekend. UAB Department of Surgery faculty, trainees and alumni showed off their swings at the tournament, held on June 15 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Oxmoor Valley, before heading to Regions Field that same evening to cheer on the Birmingham Barons baseball team.
Urist served as the director of the General Surgery Residency Program from 1991-2012 and has dedicated his career to preparing UAB Surgery residents to become surgical leaders in Alabama and throughout the country.