Faculty

In 2017, nearly 20 medical students participated in mentored research projects in the Department of Surgery. Now is the time of year that we start to promote our summer opportunities to students.

Fourth-year medical student Kathryn Hudak presents her research at the 2017 Dale J. Benos Medical Student Research Day on Nov. 13.

Four medical students from the labs of four Department of Surgery faculty placed at this year’s UAB SOM Dale J. Benos Medical Student Research Day on Nov. 13.

Assistant Professor
Associate Program Director, Vascular Surgery Integrated Residency
Co-Leader, Surgical Grand Rounds

Areas of Interest
surgical and endovascular management of aortic aneurysmal and occlusive disease, mesenteric vascular disease, open and endovascular treatments for peripheral arterial disease, cerebrovascular disease, dialysis access, health outcomes and policy research, quality improvement

Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
pediatric plastic surgery, tissue engineering, tracking patient-reported and postoperative outcomes, AI-assisted generative patient education and assessment tools

Clinical Assistant Professor
Primary Practice Location: Russell Medical Center, Alexander City

Areas of Interest
Robotic minimally invasive surgery, abdominal wall inguinal and hiatal hernia repairs, gallbladder disease, colon and rectal cancer and diverticulitis, skin and soft tissue procedures and endoscopy

Clinical Assistant Professor
Primary Practice Location: Montgomery Baptist

Areas of Interest
Adult cardiac surgery - coronary artery bypass grafting, heart valve repair/replacement, aneurysm repair surgery, robotic-assisted/open thoracic surgery, lung cancer surgery

Associate Professor
Chief, Emergency General Surgery Service
Program Director, Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Fellowship

Areas of Interest
acute care surgery, resident and medical student education

Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
organ transplant, BM/HSC transplant, transplant risk assessment, donor selection, recipient/donor pair selection, transplant outcome, engraftment monitoring, transplant organ rejection monitoring, HLA antibody detection/identification

The UAB Department of Surgery gathers for a photo at the 2018 Academic Surgical Congress in Jacksonville, Floriday, Jan. 30 – Feb. 1.

The UAB Department of Surgery headed to Jacksonville, Florida, last month for the Academic Surgical Congress, Jan. 30 – Feb. 1, 2018. With 71 presentations, UAB boasted the highest number of abstracts submitted from one institution at this year's event, surging ahead of the competition by a margin of 20. A total of 67 from UAB Surgery presented at the three-day meeting.

Are you ready for this weekend’s American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Diego, California? We’d like to offer our well wishes to the Department of Surgery faculty, fellows and residents who are presenting at ACS this year and invite you to attend our UAB Surgery events below.

Shoutout to the following faculty, fellows and residents who are representing our department at ACS:

Division of Plastic Surgery

Timothy King, M.D., Ph.D.

Division of Transplantation

• Stephen Gray, M.D.
• Joseph Tector, M.D., Ph.D.

Division of Pediatric Surgery

• Mike Chen, M.D.
• Elizabeth Beierle, M.D.
• Scott Anderson, M.D.
• Colin Martin, M.D.
• Robert Russell, M.D.

Division of Acute Care Surgery

• Jeffrey Kerby, M.D., Ph.D.
• Patrick Bosarge, M.D.
• Duraid Younan, M.D.

Division of Surgical Oncology

• Catherine Parker, M.D.
• Martin Heslin, M.D.
• Sushanth Reddy, M.D.
• Brenessa Lindeman, M.D.
• Carlo Contreras, M.D.
• Kirby Bland, M.D.
• Herbert Chen, M.D.

Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery

• Courtney Balentine, M.D., MPH
• James Bibb, Ph.D.
• Jamie Cannon, M.D.
• John D. Christein, M.D.
• Daniel Chu, M.D.
• Richard Hanney, M.D.
• Greg Kennedy, M.D., Ph.D.
• Jayleen Grams, M.D.
• Reema Mallick, M.D.
• James Mobley, Ph.D.
• Melanie Morris, M.D.
• Manabu Nukaya, Ph.D.
• Abhisek Parmar, M.D.
• John Porterfield, M.D.
• Joshua Richman, M.D., Ph.D.
• Selwyn Vickers, M.D.
• Chetan Patel, M.D.

Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy

• Adam Beck, M.D.
• Marc Passman, M.D.

Shoutout to the following UAB Surgery residents who are also presenting:

• Luke Stewart, M.D.
• John Axley, M.D.
• Laura Stafman, M.D.
• Margaux Mustian, M.D.
• Evan Garner, M.D.
• Laura Allen Hickman, M.D.

Cocktail Reception at ACS Clinical Congress 2017

Monday, Oct. 23
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel
1 Market Place
San Diego, CA 92101
Seaport Ballroom G

Faculty, residents and alumni are welcome to bring a guest.

Dinner at ACS Clinical Congress 2017

Monday, Oct. 23
7:30 p.m.
Top of the Market
750 North Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA 92101

To RSVP, email Jamie Moody at jmmoody@uabmc.edu.

Faculty, residents and fellows from seven different divisions represent the UAB Department of Surgery at the 2017 American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Diego, California, on Oct. 23.At least 36 faculty and at least 7 residents and fellows represented the UAB Department of Surgery at the 2017 American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Diego, California, this year. The five-day conference, which began last weekend and ended yesterday, saw several wins for the department including a new endocrine surgery fellowship and resident awards.

Clinical Associate Professor

Areas of Interest
diabetic limb salvage, trauma, forefoot surgery, rearfoot, and ankle reconstructive surgery, adult-acquired flatfoot

Professor Emeritus

Areas of Interest
surgical oncology, breast carcinoma, melanoma, sarcoma, surgical education

Professor
Chief, Inpatient Wound Care Service

Areas of Interest
international medicine, emergency medicine, wound care, hyperbaric oxygen

Professor and Chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery (Emeritus)

Areas of Interest
plastic surgery, facial rejuvenation, reconstructive, aesthetic, endoscopy

Professor
Heart, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Lung Transplant Chief

Areas of Interest 
Complex redo cardiac surgery, left ventricular aneurysm repair, mechanical circulatory support, heart transplantation, lung transplantation, donation after circulatory death donors, early management and hormonal replacement therapy in potential heart and lung donors

President & CEO, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Voluntary Professor, UAB Department of Surgery

Areas of Interest
gastrointestinal surgery, pancreatic cancer, hepatobiliary tumors, health disparities, hernia surgery

To get ready for next weekend’s American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Diego, California, we’re working on a UAB Surgery guide to ACS, but we need your help! If you’re presenting at ACS 2017, email surgcomm@uabmc.edu with the location, date, time and title of your talk so we can include it on our must-see UAB itinerary in next week’s newsletter and let us know what other events you’d like featured in the guide.

Professor
Charles W. Breaux, Sr., and Ann K. Breaux Endowed Professorship in Cardiothoracic Surgery
Program Director, Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency

Areas of Interest
robotic-assisted and video-assisted thoracic surgery, lung and esophageal cancer surgery, gastroesophageal reflux disease, paraesophageal hernias, esophageal motility disorders, robotic tracheobronchoplasty

Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
general surgery education, burn surgery, surgical critical care

Shelby BergstresserThird-year UAB medical student Shelby Bergstresser has been named a Top 6 Gold Medal Finalist by the Southeastern Surgical Congress for her oral abstract, “Prognostic Value of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Staging Systems.” Bergstresser will present her research at the SESC 2018 Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida, Feb. 10-13.

Her mentor, Jared White, M.D., assistant professor in the Division of Transplantation, said she was one of the department’s star medical students and looks forward to her presentation at SESC. Bergstresser also presented her research at the 2018 Academic Surgical Congress in Jacksonville, Florida, last month.

 See also: "White’s mentee overall winner of SESC Gold Medal Award."

Shelby Bergstresser, MS3, was the overall winner of the Southeastern Surgical Congress Gold Medal Award for the research she presented at the SESC 2018 Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida.

Third-year UAB medical student Shelby Bergstresser was the overall winner of the Southeastern Surgical Congress Gold Medal Award for her presentation at the SESC 2018 Annual Meeting on the staging systems of hepatocellular carcinoma, “Prognostic Value of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Staging Systems.” The Gold Medal Award is a prestigious recognition of excellent research by young surgeons.

Professor
Medical Director, Legacy of Hope

Areas of Interest
surgical critical care, wound closure, trauma systems development, pre-hospital notification and injury prediction, blunt or penetrating trauma, donor management, organ and tissue transplantation

Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
trauma, emergency general surgery, surgical critical care, laparoscopy, minimally invasive surgery

Assistant Professor
Assistant Program Director, Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship

Areas of Interest
minimally invasive surgery, bariatric surgery

Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
optimizing health care delivery systems, evaluating comparative effectiveness of surgical interventions, statistics, econometrics, simulation modeling, clinical outcomes research

Professor
Director, Pediatric Renal Transplantation (Children’s of Alabama)
Assistant Dean of Medical Education
Mark H. Deierhoi Endowed Professor in Surgery

Areas of Interest
kidney transplantation, pancreas transplantation, pediatric renal transplantation, health disparities research

Clinical Assistant Professor
Primary Practice Location: Russell Medical Center, Alexander City

Instructor

Areas of Interest
Membrane physiology, dopamine and gut-brain axis, bile acids and neurotransmission, neuromodulation