Our talented leadership team guides our efforts to realize the tripartite aim of academic medicine: research, education, and patient care. Our Chair, Vice Chairs, and Division Directors bring incredible expertise and passion to their roles.

Meet Our Chair

C. Seth Landefeld, MD

C. Seth Landefeld, MD, was named chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in September 2012. Dr. Landefeld is an internationally known clinician and researcher in geriatrics, epidemiology and biostatistics. He joined UAB from the University of California at San Francisco, where he was chief of the division of Geriatrics and associate chair for strategic planning and implementation at the UCSF Department of Medicine. 

At UCSF, Landefeld directed the Program for the Aging Century and led the editorial team that produces the Journal of the American Medical Association‘s series, “Care of the Aging Patient.” He founded and led the development of UCSF’s Division of Geriatrics. With more than 30 faculty, the division established a record of innovation in research, education and patient care and emerged as a national leader in the development of outstanding faculty. The division attracted increasing support from the philanthropic community, with annual gifts of $1 million and an endowment of more than $5 million.

Landefeld’s work has aimed to transform and personalize health care to meet the needs of older Americans and their families at a time that will be dominated by the medical and social issues of the aging global population. His research has improved the outcomes of older persons with serious illness. In landmark studies of acutely ill hospitalized elders, Landefeld and his colleagues invented the Acute Care for Elders Unit, a novel method for improving patients’ functional outcomes. This model has been adapted at medical centers nationwide, including at UAB Hospital.

In incremental studies of anticoagulant therapy, he developed the first valid, reliable measure of hemorrhagic complications, designed and validated risk assessment indices for anticoagulant-related bleeding, developed interventions to prevent major bleeding and demonstrated their efficacy in clinical trials.

Landefeld completed his undergraduate work at Harvard and New College, Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He received his medical degree from Yale and trained in internal medicine at UCSF and in clinical epidemiology at Harvard.

He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians and was recently a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He is the past-president of the Society of General Internal Medicine and serves on the boards of the American Geriatrics Society, Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs and San Francisco’s Institute on Aging. In 2011, he received the Robert J. Glaser Award “For Exceptional Contributions to Education and Research,” the highest award of the Society of General Internal Medicine.

Meet Our Division Directors

Ken Boockvar, MD, MS

Director, Gerontology, Geriatrics & Palliative Care

Andrea Cherrington, MD, MPH

Interim Director, Preventive Medicine

Mark T. Dransfield, MD

Director, Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care

Bassel El-Rayes, MD

Director, Hematology & Oncology

Orlando Gutierrez, MD

Director, Nephrology

Nicole Lohr, MD, PhD, FACC

Director, Cardiovascular Disease

Doug Morgan, MD, MPH

Director, Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Fernando Ovalle, MD

Director, Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism

Martin Rodriguez, M.D.

Intermin Division Director, Infectious Diseases

Kenneth G. Saag, MD, MSc

Director, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology

Erin Snyder, MD

Intermin Division Director, General Internal Medicine

Meet Our Vice Chairs & Directors

Robert C. Bourge, MD

Senior Vice Chair, Department of Medicine

Cynthia Joiner, PhD

Vice Chair, Department of Medicine

John Kennedy, MD

Senior Advisor and Director, Wellness

Timmy Lee, MD, MSPH

Vice Chair, Research, Nephrology

Erica Stringer-Reasor, MD

Vice Chair, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Erin Snyder, MD

Director, Ambulatory Services

Elizabeth Turnipseed, MD, MSPH

Vice Chair, Clinical Affairs

Lisa Willett, MD

Vice Chair, Education and Faculty Development