The UAB Department of Surgery is honored to announce that the Director and Associate Professor of the Division of Surgical Oncology Dr. Vikas Dudeja and Division of Breast and Endocrine Assistant Professor Dr. Lily Gutnik have been accepted as members of the UAB Medicine Institute for Leadership Program’s spring 2023 cohort.

The Institute for Leadership consists of competency-based workshops aimed to accelerate participants’ leadership skill sets.

Drs. Dudeja and Gutnik will cultivate personal development plans, learn teambuilding principles, strengthen managerial skills, and chart ways to establish partnerships with other leaders.

Displayed Departmental Leadership

Drs. Dudeja and Gutnik have served in numerous leadership roles throughout their careers at UAB.

Earlier this year, Dr. Dudeja was selected to participate in the 2022 Society of University Surgeons (SUS) Leaders Program, a prestigious program working to increase leadership roles for minority groups in surgery. Dudeja has expertise in the immune stromal biology of pancreatic cancer and other hepatobiliary malignancies. The Department of Defense, the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the VA Merit Program have awarded him research funds in recent years.

Dr. Gutnik was named associate scientist for the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center and the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB in January. Joining the UAB Division of Breast and Endocrine Surgery last November, Gutnik has a longstanding research passion for the impact of breast cancer screening and early detection in low-resource settings.

About the UAB Medicine Institute for Leadership

The UAB Medicine Institute for Leadership was officially announced in 2019 by the UAB Medicine Leadership Development Office (LDO) as an initiative designed to foster and enhance the existing personal, managerial, and leadership capabilities of selected participants, recognized as high-potential employees.