Explore UAB

More than 1,200 interns, residents and fellows train in every medical specialty at UAB in Birmingham, at our regional campuses in Montgomery, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, and in our program in Selma.

In an ongoing series, the Department of Surgery will feature incoming and outgoing trainees for all UAB Surgery programs. This week, learn about those joining and leaving the Vascular Surgery Integrated Residency Program and the Vascular Surgery Fellowship.

According to a new study published by the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery’s Aurelio Galli, Ph.D., D.Sc., in PLOS Biology, a specific kind of bariatric surgery can reduce the rewarding effects of cocaine use by elevating bile acids in the gut.

Dr. James K. Kirklin

At the Sixth Scientific Meeting of the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery in Orlando, Florida, last month, the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery’s James K. Kirklin, M.D., was elected to serve as vice president of the Society until 2022, and then president until 2024.

Kirklin was also recently named president-elect of the American Heart Association’s Greater Southeast Affiliate board of directors for 2018-19.

Dr. Martin Heslin

The Division of Surgical Oncology’s Martin Heslin, M.D., executive vice-chair for the Department of Surgery and chief of medical staff for UAB Hospital, has been selected to become chair of the program committee for the Society of Surgical Oncology in 2020.

Dr. Chinwendu Onwubiko presents her research at the American College of Surgeons Quality and Safety Conference in July.

Pediatric Surgery Fellow Chinwendu Onwubiko, M.D., received an award for Best Trainee Abstract at the American College of Surgeons Quality and Safety Conference last month. Onwubiko presented her award-winning research on unplanned readmissions in pediatric general surgery, using the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program’s pediatric database, at the meeting on Monday.

Dr. Renata Jaskula-Sztul

The Division of Surgical Oncology’s Renata Jaskula-Sztul, Ph.D., recently received the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society Basic/Translational Science Investigator Award for her research project, “Novel Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) for Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor (PanNET) Targeted Therapy.”

Dr. Helen Krontiras
Dr. James Donahue

Helen Krontiras, M.D., and James M. Donahue, M.D., will be named to the Kirby I. Bland, M.D., Endowed Professorship in Surgery and the James H. Estes Family Endowed Chair for Lung Cancer Research in the Comprehensive Cancer Center, respectively, at the November 7 UAB School of Medicine Endowed Chairs and Professorships Reception at the Wallace Tumor Institute.

Ayanabha Chakraborti, Ph.D. — a senior research scientist in the laboratory of the UAB Department of Surgery’s Vice Chair of Basic Science Research James Bibb, Ph.D. — was recently awarded a $7,500 Yale/National Institute of Drug Addiction Neuroproteomics Center Pilot Research Project Grant for his research project, “Profiling the Nucleus Accumbens Proteome in an Experimental Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”

Approximately 50 Department of Surgery faculty participated in the department's leadership and development retreat on Saturday, Aug. 4, at Willow Point in Alexander City, Alabama.

More than 1,200 interns, residents and fellows train in every medical specialty at UAB in Birmingham, at our regional campuses in Montgomery, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, and in our program in Selma. In an ongoing series, the Department of Surgery will feature incoming and outgoing trainees for all UAB Surgery programs. This week, learn about the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship.

Dr. John McKinney
Dr. Eric Schinnerer
Dr. Michael Hernon

Three incoming faculty will join the UAB Department of Surgery this month, taking positions in the divisions of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Acute Care Surgery and Gastrointestinal Surgery.

Director of Medical Student Clerkships Dr. Britney Corey teaches a class of medical students in the West Pavilion Conference Center.

The Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery’s Britney Corey, M.D., was recently named the new director of the Department of Surgery’s medical student clerkship.

University of North Carolina in Charlotte and UAB SURE student Symonne Martin discusses the breast cancer research she performed under the mentorship of Dr. Rachael Lancaster and Dr. Catherine Parker this summer at the PRISM and SURE presentation reception in Wallace Tumor Institute 101 on Thursday, July 26, 2018.

On Thursday, twelve students from the Pre-College Research Internship for Students from Minority Backgrounds and the Surgery Undergraduate Research Experience presented the research projects they completed this summer under the mentorship of Department of Surgery faculty. The project topics included subjects such as liver cancer, GI disorders, health literacy and diversity in residency programs.

The SURE students also presented their research at the UAB Undergraduate Research and Service Learning Expo. As a result, Wesleyan College's Sidnée Goyer won second place in the oral presentation category for her project analyzing the relationship between academic rank and American Surgical Congress abstract submission rates. Goyer was mentored by the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery's Britney Corey, M.D., as part of the SURE program.

Dr. John McKinney Jr.

The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery welcomes a new faculty member at the UAB Multi-Specialty Clinic at Baptist Montgomery next week, John McKinney, Jr. M.D. McKinney will replace Clinical Assistant Professor Harry Kourlis, M.D., who is stepping down from his position at the clinic at Baptist Medical Center South.

McKinney will begin his role as clinical assistant professor at the clinic on Wednesday, Aug. 1.

More than 1,200 interns, residents and fellows train in every medical specialty at UAB in Birmingham, at our regional campuses in Montgomery, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, and in our program in Selma. In an ongoing series, the Department of Surgery will feature incoming and outgoing trainees for all UAB Surgery programs. This week, learn about the AAES Endocrine Surgery Fellowship at UAB.

Dr. Sophie Yaseman Dream

This year, the UAB Department of Surgery’s Endocrine Surgery Fellowship welcomes its first-ever fellow, Sophie Yaseman Dream, M.D., who will join UAB on Aug. 1 from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. Dream completed medical school in 2013 at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Dr. Catherine Parker
Dr. Rachael Lancaster

The Division of Surgical Oncology’s Catherine Parker, M.D., and Rachael Lancaster, M.D., have assumed new leadership positions within the Society of Surgical Oncology’s Breast Oncology Fellowship at UAB. Parker has taken the lead as the program director, while Lancaster serves as the associate program director for the fellowship, which is managed by the UAB Department of Surgery and Division of Surgical Oncology.

The Society of Surgical Oncology Breast Oncology Fellowship at UAB is a one-year multidisciplinary clinical program that enables fellows to acquire an advanced body of knowledge and level of skill in the management of all aspects of benign and malignant breast disease in order to become a leader in the field. This comprehensive approach includes screening, risk assessment, prevention strategies, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and research all in one location.

The fellowship's first-ever fellow graduates at the end of this month, and its second-ever fellow will begin at UAB at the beginning of next month. Learn more about the fellowship's incoming and outgoing fellows here.

Match Day 2018 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 74 institutions across 27 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 Plastic Surgery Residency Program and its two new residents, as well as its three outgoing residents.

More than 1,200 interns, residents and fellows train in every medical specialty at UAB in Birmingham, at our regional campuses in Montgomery, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, and in our program in Selma. In an ongoing series, the Department of Surgery will feature incoming and outgoing trainees for all UAB Surgery programs. This week, learn about the Breast Oncology Fellowship.

General surgery resident John Killian, M.D., was recently appointed to the position of secretary for the UAB Graduate Medical Education Department’s House Staff Council.

Dr. Matthew Knight
Dr. Ryan Cowley

The UAB Department of Surgery welcomes two new faculty this summer, Assistant Professor Matthew T. Knight, M.D., and Assistant Professor Ryan E. Cowley, M.D. While part of the UAB Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Knight and Cowley will work as general surgeons at Russell Medical Center in Alexander City, Alabama.

The Society of Asian Academic Surgeons provides an annual scholarship to surgical trainees interested in careers in academic surgery. The scholarship will pay for registration for the Association for Academic Surgery’s fall courses, which will be held on October 20, the weekend preceding the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress. In addition to registration, the scholarship will cover two nights’ lodging at the meeting hotel and domestic coach airfare with total not to exceed $1,500.

The UAB Department of Surgery opened a new resident resource center this summer on the second floor of the Boshell Diabetes Building. The roughly 3,000-square-foot area features a kitchen, a conference room, a sitting area, showers, lockers and several computers for UAB Surgery residents to use while they’re on campus.

Third-year general surgery resident Raoud Marayati, M.D., was recently named the 2018-2019 Society of University Surgeons Resident Research Scholar, making her the first resident in the UAB Department of Surgery’s recent history to receive a grant while in residency. Marayati received the $30,000 Resident Research Scholar Award after presenting her project, “PIM3 Kinase Promotes Tumor Metastasis in Hepatoblastoma,” to the SUS Scholarship Committee last week.

The UAB School of Medicine Featured Discovery initiative recognizes and celebrates the impressive science and discoveries taking place within the UAB SOM every day. It is proud to spotlight faculty members with research recently published in prominent science journals that make an extraordinary impact on the world around us. The Featured Discovery initiative is a way for us to share our colleagues’ findings, whether they have been publicized before or not, with those in the UAB community and beyond.

The Divisions of Surgical Oncology’s Brenessa Lindeman, M.D., M.E.H.P., has been invited to participate in the 2018-2019 American Board of Medical Specialties Visiting Scholars Program. As an ABMS Visiting Scholar, Lindeman will attend the 2018 ABMS Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, September 24-26.

The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery’s Ramaraju Rudraraju, Ph.D., and his team of multidisciplinary co-investigators recently received funding for their research proposal, “Machine Learning for Predicting Mechanical Circulatory Support Outcomes.” The award was given in response to a request for applications from the American Heart Association’s Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine titled, “American Heart Association and Amazon Web Services 2.0 Data Grant Portfolio: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.” The proposed project will be funded in the amount of $100,000 per year for two years, starting July 1.

Second-year medical student Zach Burns (far right) and Dr. Rob Headrick from CHI Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee (far left), discuss policy with Congressman Gary Palmer (center) from Alabama's sixth district at the June 11 STS Legislative Fly-in.

Second-year UAB medical student Zach Burns, president of UAB’s Surgery Interest Group and mentee of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery’s Robert Dabal, M.D., and Sara Pereira, M.D., attended the annual Society for Thoracic Surgeons’ Legislative Fly-in in Washington, D.C., last week after being awarded the STS Advocacy Scholarship.

Dr. Lauren Raff

Assistant Professor in the Division of General and Acute Care Surgery at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, as well as  2016 graduate of the UAB General Surgery Residency Program and 2017 graduate of the UAB Surgical Critical Care Fellowship, Lauren Raff, M.D., was recently awarded the UNC Department of Surgery’s Rookie of the Year Award. This annual award is presented by the Department’s general surgery chief residents and recognizes Raff for her impact on resident education.

Check out our photos from the 2018 UAB General Surgery Chief Resident Dinner and graduation ceremony on Flickr. This annual event was held on June 15 at The Club in Birmingham.

Dr. Babak John Orandi

Fall 2018 Department of Surgery faculty recruit Babak John Orandi, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., was recently asked to serve as associate editor of the popular transplant journal, Clinical Transplantation, where he will focus on research related to registry analyses and incompatible kidney transplants. This September, Orandi will join the Division of Transplantation as an assistant professor and will work with Jayme Locke, M.D., on her health services research.