In 2018, the UAB Department of Surgery named the very first recipients of the Champ Lyons Outstanding Clinician Award. Every year since, a faculty award committee selects the awardees based on their contribution to patient care, clinical case volume, outcomes, teaching, service on hospital committees, and patient and resident evaluations.
Champ Lyons, M.D., was a professor and chair of Surgery at UAB from 1950 to 1965. He made significant contributions to the field of surgery, specifically in the areas of surgical infections and vascular surgery.
Associate Professor Rondi Gelbard, M.D., was named the 2022 Champ Lyons Outstanding Clinician Award.
Gelbard, a faculty member in the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, serves as the Medical Director for Surgery and Surgical Critical Care (the SICU, PACU, and TBICU). Her research interests include emergency general surgery, surgery education research, traumatic brain injury outcomes, biomarkers, and wound healing. She serves as Chair of the Scientific Studies committee for the Surgical Infection Society and is a part of the Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance.
Gelbard was recognized at the State of the Department in 2023 and received a stipend to deliver a talk in Cape Town, South Africa later that year.
Professor Jobe Fix, M.D., was named the 2023 Champ Lyons Outstanding Clinician Award.
Fix, a faculty member of the Division of Plastic Surgery, specializes in breast reconstruction and hand surgery. He has consistently been listed in “America’s Top Doctors” and “The Best Doctors in America.” Fix has made over 17 medical mission trips to Ecuador to treat congenital anomalies and pediatric problems. Fix was recognized at the State of the Department in 2024.
The 2024 awardee will be recognized at the State of the Department address on January 21, 2025.
Previous winners include:
- 2018: Jamie Cannon, M.D., and Jared White, M.D.
- 2019: Benjamin J. Pearce, M.D.
- 2020: Catherine C. Parker, M.D.
- 2021: Michael Hanaway, M.D.