Charles A. Leath III, M.D., MSPH, has been named division director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, effective immediately. Leath has been on faculty as a professor of medicine within the UAB School of Medicine since 2013.
In addition to his role as division director, Leath is a senior scientist in UAB’s O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Center for Women’s Reproductive Health, and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science. He also holds the Ellen Gregg Shook Culverhouse Endowed Chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
“I am both honored and humbled to be selected to fulfill this position to guide the UAB Division of Gynecologic Oncology,” Leath said. “Throughout my affiliation with the division, I have had the fortune of working under professional and personal mentors Drs. Ed Partridge, Ronnie Alvarez and Warner Huh, who served before me in this position. In addition, the guidance of both Dr. Larry Kilgore in my fellowship, as well as Dr. J. Michael Straughn Jr., both personally and professionally guiding the training of tomorrow’s gynecologic oncologists, has been invaluable. I’m looking forward to furthering the division’s strong reputation of exceptional patient care and research.”
Leath is an accomplished physician-researcher with a longstanding interest in clinical trial development and execution. He has served as chair of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center Protocol Review Committee and alternate chair for the O’Neal Clinical Trials Operation Committee. He is chair of the NRG Cervix committee, serves on the Editorial Board for Obstetrics & Gynecology (Green Journal), and is on the NCCN Ovarian Cancer Treatment Guideline Committee.
“Dr. Leath is an exceptional, accomplished educator, mentor and surgeon,” said Warner Huh, M.D., chair of UAB’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “He has been recognized with innumerable awards and honors since the completion of his fellowship training — both nationally and internationally — and I look forward to seeing how he further elevates gynecologic oncology at UAB as a national and international leader in cancer care and treatment.”
Leath is a graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina. He completed both his residency in obstetrics and gynecology and fellowship training in gynecologic oncology at UAB. He served the country in the United States Air Force from 2005-2012 and was the chief of Gynecologic Oncology at Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, in addition to the chair of the Institutional Review Board.