Assistant Professor
Associate Vice Chair, Global Surgery Equity
Assistant Program Director for Global Surgery, General Surgery Residency Program
Associate Scientist, O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB
Associate Scientist, Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC)

Areas of Interest 
global surgery, global oncology, disparities, health services research, financial toxicity, oncoplastics

Biography

Dr. Lily Gutnik joined the UAB Division of Breast and Endocrine Surgery in November 2021 as an assistant professor. She also supports the General Surgery Residency Program as assistant program director for global surgery. Additionally, Dr. Gutnik serves the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB as an associate scientist in the Cancer Control and Population Science Program. In 2022, she was appointed to the Sparkman Center for Global Health Scholars Program.

Dr. Gutnik completed her undergraduate degree at New York University and her Medical Degree at the Medical School for International Health—a collaboration between Ben Gurion University in Israel and Columbia University in New York. She also holds a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University.

Lily completed a research fellowship at the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Harvard University/Brigham and Women's Hospital where she gained valuable experience in health services research. Lily served on the Finance and Economics Committee of the Lancet Commission for Global Surgery. Her longstanding research passion has revolved around the impact of breast cancer screening and early detection in low-resource settings.

Lily was previously a Fulbright and Fogarty Fellow in Lilongwe, Malawi where she established and evaluated the efficacy of Malawi’s first breast cancer screening initiative by activating laywomen to become trained breast health workers. In addition, she serves in an advisory board member for two international NGOs: (i) Know Your Lemons, which focuses on education and awareness materials; (ii) Discovering Hands, which focuses on training blind women to become clinical breast examiners. She is a committee member of PreTac—a franchisee of Discovering Hands in Geneva, Switzerland. She is currently collaborating on various breast cancer projects and initiatives in Tanzania, Malawi, and Nigeria, and with the WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative. She is also a co-supervisor of a Ph.D. student in Moshi, Tanzania whose thesis is on understanding factors contributing to late-stage breast cancer diagnosis.

Honors and Awards

Fogarty UJMT Challenge Contest Winner "How has the UJMT Fogarty Global Health Fellows Program helped you grow as a person and as a professional? 2019

Dr. Fang Ching Sun Memorial Award for dedication to working with vulnerable populations, Harvard University, 2014

Fulbright-Fogarty Scholar in Public Health 2014-2015

UJMT Fogarty Global Health Post-Doctoral Fellow 2015-2015

Frederick Knox Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, Harvard University 2014-2015

Association of American University Women, Post-doctoral fellowship, 2014-2015

Education

Medical School
Medical School For International Health - Ben Gurion University in collaboration with Columbia University

Residency
University of Utah Health Care, General Surgery

Internship
Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, General Surgery

Fellowships
Harvard University Center for Surgery and Public Health, Research Fellow
Duke University Health Care, Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship

Contact

Office Address
BDB D515

Phone
Patient Appointments and Questions: 205-801-9034
Academic Office: 205-975-5477

Email
lgutnik@uabmc.edu