James P. Hayes, Jr., Endowed Professor in Gastrointestinal Oncology and Director of the Division of Surgical Oncology Vikas Dudeja, MBBS, has been selected for the 2021-2022 James IV Association of Surgeons Travelling Fellowship program.

The Association and the fellowship, generally considered one of the field’s more prestigious honors, boast a more than 50-year history of supporting international communication and collaboration among academic surgeons.

Dudeja is a tenured associate professor of surgery, and director of the UAB Division of Surgical Oncology. He has spent the last 14 years evaluating the pathobiology of pancreatic cancer and devising strategies to address its progression and metastases.

Dudeja is an expert in the immune and stromal biology of pancreatic and other hepatobiliary malignancies. His research has been supported by grant funding from the NIH, Department of Defense, VA Merit Program and society foundations including the Society of Surgical Oncology and National Pancreas Foundation.

He looks forward to sharing his research and clinical expertise across the globe.

“I am very grateful to the entire department for their support of this award and encouragement of me as a candidate,” says Dudeja. “It is truly a privilege to represent UAB and American surgery abroad.”

James IV Travelers function as both ambassadors representing their home countries and conduits to share their knowledge with their peers. The fellowship seeks to support young academic surgeons whose careers stand to benefit from global exposure and will allow Dudeja to travel internationally for a period of up to four weeks within a two-year period with a flat stipend of $15,000.

“The James IV Association is a very prestigious and globally recognized society, and this fellowship is a great opportunity for young surgeons,” said UAB Department of Surgery Chair Herbert Chen, M.D. “Dr. Dudeja will no doubt be an ideal representative for both the UAB Department of Surgery and UAB as a whole.”

The James IV Association of Surgeons sponsors visiting fellowship opportunities for young surgeons from and to the association’s member countries. These travelling fellowships not only promote the exchange of surgical knowledge, but also foster the kind of professional relationships that have defined those who founded the association and those who have since joined them.

Dudeja joins an elite group of UAB Surgery faculty selected for the award, which includes in order of most recent award year: Colin Martin, M.D., FACS, vice chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and president-elect of medical staff at Children's of Alabama; Jayme Locke, M.D., MPH, director of the Division of Transplantation and director of the UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute; and Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., FACS, dean of the UAB Heersink School of Medicine, CEO of the UAB Health System and CEO of the UAB/Ascension St. Vincent’s Alliance.

“The UAB Department of Surgery is known for producing academic surgeons who become leaders in their field, and this award highlights some of the incredible leaders that we have in our department,” says Chen. “I wish congratulations to Dr. Dudeja and look forward to seeing more faculty recognized in the future.”