Jayme Locke, M.D., MPH, has been named the director of the Division of Transplantation within the Department of Surgery at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Locke, an associate professor in the UAB Department of Surgery, joined the Division of Transplantation in 2012 and has since taken on numerous high-profile roles within the department and the School of Medicine. She now serves as the director of the UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute and, most recently, the inaugural holder of the Mark H. Deierhoi, M.D., Endowed Professorship, making her only the second woman to receive an endowed professorship in surgery at UAB.
“I am honored and humbled to assume the role of director for the Division of Transplantation and am excited to embrace our long-standing history of excellence and innovation,” Locke said. “It’s a privilege to serve such a talented group of surgeons and to contribute to our world-renowned transplant program.”
Dr. Jayme Locke talks to kidney chain transplant patient Veronica Temple at UAB Hospital.
Locke also serves as the director of the UAB Transplant Analytics, Informatics and Quality lab and the surgical director of the Incompatible Kidney Transplant Program at UAB Hospital, which includes the UAB Kidney Chain, the longest kidney transplant chain in the country.
“Dr. Locke has taken the field of transplant surgery by storm since joining the faculty at UAB,” said Herbert Chen, M.D., chair of the UAB Department of Surgery. “She has proven that she is a strong, thoughtful, effective leader in a variety of ways that have undoubtedly prepared her for success in this new role.”
Locke completed her medical degree at East Carolina University prior to matriculating to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she received training in general surgery and multi-visceral abdominal transplantation. She also earned a master’s degree in public health with an emphasis in biostatistics and epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University before joining the Department of Surgery at UAB.
“Dr. Locke is a brilliant surgeon, mentor and researcher, and we are proud to see her lead the Division of Transplantation as its new director,” Chen said.
An NIH-funded investigator, Locke has authored more than 22 book chapters and more than 120 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has received numerous honors and awards, including being named one of AL.com’s Women Who Shape the State and the Birmingham Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2015.
In 2016, Locke also received the James IV Association of Surgeons Traveling Fellowship, one of academic surgery’s most prestigious honors, and in 2017, gave a talk on living organ donation at TEDxBirmingham that inspired one member of the audience to then join the UAB Kidney chain as a donor.
“Dr. Locke has made great strides in educating patients and the public on the importance of organ donation,” Chen said. “Her impact is evident throughout the division, the department, the university and the community at large.”
Locke was also named one of the Birmingham Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 of the decade in October. As one of the paper’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2015, Locke was chosen for this year’s list from the nearly 400 other winners who have been included in the annual series over the past 10 years.