Explore UAB

UAB has launched UAB MedCast, an ongoing series of medical education and clinical information podcasts highlighting the latest medical and research innovations from faculty. These podcasts – which are eligible for CME credit – are ideal for physicians, nurses, technicians and other medical professionals interested in staying abreast of clinical and research developments at UAB Medicine while helping satisfy their ongoing professional education requirements.

Dr. Melanie MorrisCongratulations to the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery’s Melanie Morris, M.D., and Courtney Balentine, M.D., M.P.H., who were recently awarded the UAB Outcomes, Disparities and Population Health Research Pilot Grant by the Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education and the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center for their project, “Pilot Evaluation of the Virtual Acute Care for Elders Program for Older Patients Having Complex Gastrointestinal Surgery.”

Dr. Colin MartinThe Research Committee of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract has selected Colin Martin, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, as this year’s winner of the SSAT Career Development Award for his proposal, “Environmental Programming of IgA Transport in Neonatal Disease.”

Two studies from Associate Professor of Surgery Jayme Locke, M.D., on HIV-positive kidney transplantation were recently published in Annals of Surgery, as well as the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

The UAB Department of Surgery held the second annual Kirby I. Bland, M.D., Visiting Lectureship at Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium on Tuesday, Feb. 21, featuring this year's lecturer, Keith D. Lillemoe, M.D., from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Bland celebrated the event later that evening with his friends and peers at The Club Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama, at the lectureship's accompanying black-tie dinner.

Two members of Associate Professor of Surgery Jayme Locke’s lab have received Young Investigator Awards for the upcoming American Transplant Congress in Chicago, Illinois, April 29 – May 3.

Congratulations to the Division of Pediatric Surgery’s Elizabeth Beierle, M.D., and Colin Martin, M.D., who were recently awarded grants from the Kaul Pediatric Research Institute.

Dr. Vera Hauptfeld was recently elected to serve on the Accreditation Review Board of the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics.The Division of Transplantation’s Vera Hauptfeld-Dolejsek, Ph.D., associate professor of surgery and director of the Comprehensive Transplant Institute's Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Laboratory, was recently elected to serve on the Accreditation Review Board of the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics as a commissioner for a two-year term.

The UAB Department of Surgery takes a break from the 12th Annual Academic Surgical Congress at Hofbrauhaus in Las Vegas on Feb. 7, 2017.

More than 60 medical students, residents and faculty members represented the UAB Department of Surgery last week at the 12th Annual Academic Surgical Congress in Las Vegas. Second only to the University of Michigan, the department led the pack in presentations and moderated more than eight sessions.

After her fellowship at UAB roughly 12 years ago, Dr. Sara J. Pereira has returned to the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery as an associate professor.

In an effort to promote its brand and keep its faculty and staff looking sharp, the Department of Surgery is offering a number of specialty items for purchase, including shirts, shorts, sweatshirts and more. Order your UAB Surgery swag by submitting this online order form.

Brenessa Lindeman, M.D., M.E.H.P., will join the Division of Surgical Oncology as an assistant professor of surgery in August 2017. Photo via aamc.org.

The Division of Surgical Oncology is happy to announce that Brenessa Lindeman, M.D., M.E.H.P., will be joining the faculty as an assistant professor of surgery in August 2017 after being heavily recruited by many top-tier institutions. Lindeman will also serve as the associate director of the General Surgery Residency Program and the associate designated institutional official for UAB Graduate Medical Education.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Residency Review Committee for Surgery has renewed accreditation for four UAB Department of Surgery programs:

Dr. Marshall Urist weighs in on lymph node dissection during a panel for the UAB General Surgery CME Course.

Department Chair Herbert Chen, M.D., delivered his annual State of the UAB Department of Surgery address in Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium last Tuesday, declaring at one point, "There are a lot of comparisons you can make between Jedi knights and surgeons, I believe."

Kimberly Hendershot, M.D., attended the Association of American Medical College’s Mid-Career Women Faculty Professional Development seminar in Austin, Texas, Dec. 10-13, 2016.The Division of Acute Care Surgery’s Associate Professor Kimberly Hendershot, M.D., recently attended the Association of American Medical College’s Mid-Career Women Faculty Professional Development seminar in Austin, Texas, Dec. 10-13, 2016.

John Christein, M.D.John Christein, M.D., was selected to be part of a new program from the ACS Division of Education., an associate professor in the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, was recently selected to be part of a new program from the American College of Surgeons Division of Education.

The UAB Department of Surgery started UAB Women in Surgery to provide camaraderie and community for female surgeons and encourage female medical students to choose surgical specialties.

UAB Surgery is hosting a course in general surgery Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, through Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017, at the Westin Birmingham. The course will cover topics such as breast cancer surgery, benign GI surgery, malignant GI surgery, trauma and emergency general surgery. Guest lecturers will include Jon C. Gould, M.D., professor and chief of the Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin Division of General Surgery, and Timothy A. Pritts, M.D., Ph.D., professor of surgery and director of general surgery at the University of Cincinnati. 

Congratulations to Patrick Bosarge, M.D., Laura Stafman, M.D., and Jared White, M.D., who were recently elected to various Association for Academic Surgery committees. Bosarge will serve on the AAS Membership Committee, Stafman on the Leadership Committee and White on the Ethics Committee. View the missions and requirements for these three committees here.

James George, M.D., has received the 2017 Dean's Excellence in Mentorship Award.Cardiovascular Surgical Research Chair and Professor James George, Ph.D., was recently named a recipient of the 2017 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentorship. The Dean's Excellence in Mentorship Award recognizes full-time regular UAB faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments as mentors of graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows. View the characteristics that make these award winners outstanding mentors, as well as eligibility information, here.

Associate Professor of Transplantation Jayme Locke, M.D., has been named a James IV Association of Surgeons Traveler for 2017-18. Locke is the director of the Incompatible Kidney Transplant Program, as well as the director of Transplant Analytics, Informatics & Quality.

Elizabeth Beierle, M.D., professor in the UAB Division of Pediatric Surgery, has been selected as one of 30 inspiring women for the 2016 Alabama Media Group's Women Who Shape the State award. This statewide program recognizes incredible women who are impacting Alabama through their efforts in communities, business, service organizations and philanthropies.

Breast surgical oncologist Helen Krontiras, M.D., has been named the new director of the Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Krontiras came to UAB as an assistant professor 15 years ago and now serves as a professor in the Department of Surgery. She earned her medical degree and completed her residency at UAB before completing a surgical breast fellowship at Northwestern University. Her official start date as division director was Nov. 16.

Britney Corey, M.D., was awarded a one-time $74,000 grant from the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation General Endowment Fund for her project, "Advancing a Formal Multidisciplinary Surgical Simulation Curriculum through High Fidelity Laparoscopic Simulation."

The participation at the recent American College of Surgeons meeting in Washington, D.C., was unprecedented. We were represented by five of our senior medical students pursuing careers in surgery and 14 residents who presented and participated in a wide variety of sessions throughout the week. We were honored to have 18 faculty members who led panels, moderated sessions, taught in the postgraduate course and participated in numerous meetings and leadership functions within the college.

While the scientific merit of romantic speed dating has yet to be examined, professional speed dating proved an interesting intellectual venture for the UAB departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering.

The Department of Surgery and the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) invite proposals for pilot and feasibility research studies that have high potential to generate essential preliminary data to support extramural grant applications. Basic science, translational and clinical research will be considered.

The American College of Surgeons' International Relations Committee invites faculty to apply for their traveling fellowships to Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Japan. The purpose of these fellowships is to encourage international exchange of information concerning surgical science, practice and education and to establish professional and academic collaborations and friendship.

Requirements and application forms are available here. The deadline for applications is Nov. 15.

• Read about 2016 Japan Traveling Fellow Dr. Daniel Anaya's experiences.
• Read about 2015 Japan Traveling Fellow Dr. Suresh Agarwal's experiences.
• Read about 2015 Germany Traveling Fellow Dr. Cristina Ferrone's experiences.