I am delighted to welcome you to a pilot newsletter, Letters to Tinsley. Letters is for you, for all who trained in our residency program, which was named the Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program in 2011 in honor of the Chair who set our Program on the path to greatness.  Many thanks to our current Chief Residents, who compose and edit Letters – Mallika Mundkur, Editor-in-Chief, and Contributing Editors DJ Daly, Brita Roy, and Win Williams. We hope you enjoy this newsletter and urge you to send us your suggestions for future issues.

I am also delighted to introduce myself as the new Chair of the Department.  I have loved getting to know your Department, which I joined September 1.  I trained at UCSF, where I served as Chief Resident under Holly Smith, a legendary chair and key advisor to Claude Bennett when he led our Department.  Our Department has one of the finest traditions in American medicine, and it is poised for exceptional growth. 

My personal goal for the Department is that it will be the most fun Department in the country to learn medicine, to practice, and to pursue breakthrough research.  This goal begins with having a great residency, and a great residency begins with its alumni and the work you do.  I am deeply committed to doing all I can to support our Program Directors, our faculty, and our Chief Residents in continually enhancing our program to provide exceptional training.  I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible, and my door (Boshell 420) is always open to welcome you back to UAB.

-Seth Landefeld, M.D.
Chairman of Medicine