Seth Landefeld, M.D., MACP, Professor and Chair, UAB Department of Medicine

As we step into our fall season of recruitment for the Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency program, I am thrilled with our prospects. Our residency program is gearing up to identify 35 brilliant new doctors to join us at UAB. This season is one of tremendous inspiration for me, as we create the future of our profession together in selecting our next class of residents as colleagues.

The very best of our department will be on display at our annual recognition day celebration on November 1. We will recognize our stellar doctors, investigators, teachers, and staff at this annual awards ceremony. One of my favorite honors to bestow is to name each division’s “Unsung Hero” — a dozen people across the Department who exemplify what we are about in the Department and at UAB. I expect there to be lots of applause and wonderful models of our mission excellence.

I am grateful for the many ways we continue to thrive and grow as a Department of Medicine. We continually seek to renew ourselves, to improve, and to grow. This fall, we explore ways to best merge our divisions of General Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine to meet the future needs for general internists and action-oriented research that will improve health and eliminate disparities. Our interim division directors will guide each division along this path — Erin Snyder for GIM and Andrea Cherrington for DOPM. I am thrilled that they are serving their divisions as we reunite both divisions in a shared vision of excellence.

Martin Rodriguez, one of our most beloved attending physicians, will be guiding the division of Infectious Diseases upon the departure of Jeanne Marrazzo, who just left UAB to assume leadership as the Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease. Martin is a dynamic leader and will have the support of seasoned colleagues Paul Goepfert and Craig Hoesley to lead ID while the search for a permanent division director is conducted this fall.

Our future at UAB is bright, even with the challenges of a hospital that is too full and our clinics too swamped with portal messages. Our future is bright because we have terrific people — our wonderful residents, and our faculty and staff. I am thrilled about the transformative opportunities that lie ahead, even those we cannot anticipate. It's wonderful to think about the ways we will improve in caring for our patients, making exciting discoveries, and training future physicians and scientists for service to our communities where there is such great need.

I invite you to read every story included in this issue of letters to Tinsley. The entire issue is a phenomenal reflection of the character and growth of our residents. I know they are on their way to realizing their full potential and will soon join you in making the world a healthier, happier place. And I hope that you will come back to Birmingham and UAB for a visit soon. You are always welcome here at home.

Best regards,
Seth