Class of 2019Members of the UAB School of Medicine Class of 2019 assigned to the Montgomery Regional Campus spent Thursday, July 30, in a day of orientation and community service. The Class of 2019 will be the fourth group of third- and fourth-year medical students to obtain their clinical training in Montgomery being mentored by community physicians in local hospitals.
In the opening session of the day, the students were welcomed to Montgomery by Mayor Todd Strange, who emphasized the need to recruit and retain new physicians to replenish an aging medical workforce. Other speakers included Russ Tyner, president and CEO of Baptist Health; Julia Henig, senior vice president at Baptist Health; Peter Selman, CEO of Baptist Medical Center South; and Alan Worrel, chair of the Regional Medical Campus Advisory Board.
Following tours of Baptist Medical Center South and The Institute for Patient Safety & Medical Simulation, the students spent the afternoon participating in a service project with Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery. Working through the heat and humidity, the students were able to assist in the initial construction of a home in north Montgomery.
“The focus of the Orientation Day is to acclimate the new students to the community and the institutions where they will be receiving their clinical training,” said Wick Many, M.D., dean of the Montgomery Regional Campus. “The community service project is intended to begin the process of building teamwork within the class and initiate the concept of social consciousness and professionalism that is vital to being a complete physician.”