Juliet Blakeslee-Carter, M.D., MPH, assistant professor for the UAB Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, has been selected to receive a 2026-28 Medical Education Innovation Award from the UAB Heersink School of Medicine for her study, “Artificial Intelligence in Residency Recruitment: Assessing Alignment Between Applicants and Programs in Vascular Surgery.”
Blakeslee-Carter's study examines whether artificial intelligence can improve how residency programs and applicants find one another; evaluating how well an applicant's goals and qualifications align with what a given vascular surgery program offers. Residency recruitment is a time-intensive process for both sides, and better tools for assessing fit could help programs identify strong candidates and help applicants find training environments suited to their goals.
“Recruitment shapes the future of any residency program, but the process still relies heavily on time and intuition,” Blakeslee-Carter said. “We wanted to understand where artificial intelligence can genuinely help to make the match between applicants and programs clearer and more informed on both sides.”
The work was developed alongside Benjamin J. Pearce, M.D., professor and program director for the Vascular Surgery Integrated Residency and Fellowship programs, whose role in resident training and recruitment informed the study's focus.
“This is exactly the kind of question our specialty needs to be asking as these tools become more common,” said Pearce. “The support from this award lets us study it rigorously and share what we learn with programs beyond vascular surgery.”
About the Medical Education Innovation Award
The Medical Education Innovation Award is offered through the UAB Heersink School of Medicine to support faculty and trainee projects that advance teaching, learning, and training in medicine. Administered through the Department of Medical Education, the award provides funding over a defined project period to help awardees develop and study new educational approaches. Recipients are selected in recognition of the potential impact of their work on medical education.