The Heersink School of Medicine celebrates Armed Forces Week in May, a testament to the courage, sacrifice, and unwavering dedication of military personnel.
Armed Forces Week is typically the third week in May and serves as a time to reflect on the profound contributions of military health care professionals.
According to Veteran Community, “Armed Forces Day was observed for the first time on May 20, 1950; the day was created on Aug. 31, 1949, to honor Americans serving in the five U.S. military branches.”
At Heersink School of Medicine, our faculty and learners are proud to partner with the Birmingham Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System in clinical care, research, and medical education.
Our faculty and learners who serve at the VA Hospital demonstrate exceptional skill, compassion, and resilience. They provide care to current service members, veterans, and their families.
Supporting Veterans' Health
In medical education, residents at Heersink School of Medicine are offered an opportunity to train and help provide care for veterans. Likewise, in clinical care, many Heersink School of Medicine departments have joint faculty serving at the VA. For example, the Department of Radiology serves the veteran population, focusing on those requiring complex or subspecialty care.
In Radiology, there are eight full-time and several part-time faculty at the VA, including subspecialty-trained radiologists in vascular and interventional, neuro-imaging, breast imaging, abdominal imaging, cardiopulmonary, and musculoskeletal imaging. Five to six residents rotate at the VA in a team practice environment.
Radiology at the VA also serves veteran patients with state-of-the-art technology and equipment. The Birmingham VA is the first VA and one of only a handful of hospitals in the country to have installed a “quantum” photon counting CT. All other major equipment also new or updated within the last two years and a brand-new CT scanner being installed in 2024 at the Anniston outpatient clinic to facilitate rural lung cancer screening project. Read more about how Radiology partners with the VA.
Several other areas also partner with the VA, boosting research efforts, utilizing centralized medical records for nationwide clinical data analysis, and offering standardized data fields for enhanced research opportunities.
Through research partnerships, educational programs, and clinical exchanges, we work together to advance medical knowledge and improve patient care.
These collaborations enrich our learning environment and broaden our understanding of health care challenges faced by military communities.
How to celebrate
As we commemorate Armed Forces Day, we honor and support those who serve.
Whether through advocacy, volunteerism, or simply expressing gratitude, we can make a difference in military members' lives and their families' lives.
UAB is inclusive of veterans’ experiences by offering tuition assistance, scholarships, student programs, and employment programs. Read more about Student Affairs Veterans Services here.