UAB Makes a Case for Medical Sales

The industry introduction to the new Medical Equipment and Supplies Distribution track in the UAB School of Business was held at Innovation Depot on April 11th.

• Medical sales creating thousands of jobs
• UAB endowed chair in neurosurgery to teach
• Degree-granting program gains industry support


APRIL 11, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In 2007, BusinessWeek reported 45,000 new jobs were created in the booming field of wholesale medical equipment and drug sales in just five years. April 11, medical supply industry leaders from as far away as Pennsylvania and California traveled to UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) to meet the students who can fill those jobs – participants in the new UAB School of Business degree-granting medical sales program.
This industry introduction to the new program took place on April 11th at the Innovation Depot, 1500 First Ave. N.


This past fall, the Department of Marketing and Industrial Distribution in the UAB School of Business launched the new Medical Equipment and Supplies Distribution track in the school’s highly successful Charles and Patsy Collat Industrial Distribution Program. The new track teams the expertise of both the school of business and the UAB School of Medicine. The program combines courses from its highly respected distribution curriculum with courses taught through UAB’s world renowned health sciences curricula. “The health care industry as a whole has added almost 2 million new jobs in America over the last five years,” said Thomas DeCarlo, Ph.D., professor and the Ben S. Weil Endowed Chair of Industrial Distribution. “Employers are crying out for sales people trained specifically for the medical industry – everything from disposable hospital supplies to highly technical diagnostic equipment and implantable devices.


“Especially crucial is the need for graduates to have knowledge of the structure of the health care industry, medical terminology and medical and health care purchasing systems. With the continuing aging of the U.S. population and greater supply of health care availability for all Americans, this industry will continue to grow rapidly.”
Doctors and ultimately patients also will benefit from this uniquely trained sales force, said Mark Hadley, M.D., Charles A. and Patsy Collat Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery. Hadley, past president of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, is more than just a program supporter; he will be part of the program faculty.


“We in the medical profession rely on bright, cogent trained young men and women to keep us aware of the application of new technologies and pharmacology,” said Hadley, who has been listed in the America’s Top Doctors publication since 2001. “In surgery, for example, we rely on these representatives of industry to assist our operating teams with the implementation of the appropriate device that I, as a surgeon, have chosen to correct a condition my patient may have.”


“UAB is the perfect place for this program,” Hadley said. “UAB brings together key individuals for every aspect: a business school faculty with strong contacts with industry, tenured clinicians to provide proper training and a real understanding of government guidelines. To my knowledge there is no other program like it in the country.”

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For more information log on to www.uab.edu/industrialdistribution or contact Kristen Craig at kcraig@uab.edu.