UAB Department of Surgery is pleased to announce the promotion of eleven faculty members, effective October 1.

The UAB Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery has matched four new fellows into the Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Fellowship for 2023: Preston Hewgley, M.D., Cassandra Krause, M.D., John Kuk, M.D., and Michelle Mangold, D.O.

Get your walking shoes ready: The Society for Vascular Surgery Foundation (SVSF) presents a fundraising campaign to celebrate Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) Awareness Month this September.

The Surgical Leadership Boot Camp, designed in collaboration with the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, challenges surgeons to reflect on their leadership goals and prepare for the future. With interactive sessions and featured speakers from the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons, the UAB School of Health Professions and the UAB Department of Surgery, the course will provide tangible strategies to strengthen leadership skills. The course begins Thursday, Jan. 26 at 1 p.m., and runs through Saturday, Jan. 28 at noon.

Who Should Attend?

Surgeons currently in leadership positions such as program leaders, section chiefs, division directors, and department chairs as well as those aspiring to obtain these roles.

Location

The 2.5-day course will take place at the Wallace Tumor Institute located on the medical campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Located in the heart of downtown Birmingham, AL, UAB is near 5-star dining, Civil Rights museums, urban parks, and plenty of breweries.

Session Topics

• Leadership in Surgery
• Finance for Surgery Departments
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Dealing with Humans: Optimizing for Performance
• Job Crafting & Empowering Leadership
• Negotiating for Yourself & Your Group
• Operations Management & Improvement

Registration Information

Registration includes the following:

• 2 nights lodging at the UAB Hilton, only a short walk to the meeting venue
• 2 working dinners
• Breakfast and lunches

Registration Fee

SAAS Members: $1,350
Non-SAAS Members: $2,500

Cancellation & Refund Policy

If a registrant is unable to attend, they may request a refund up to 30 days before the start of the course. Cancellation requests must be in writing and submitted to surgcomm@uabmc.edu. No refunds will be issued after December 26, 2022.

The UAB Department of Surgery is pleased to welcome Richard Harris, DPM, FACFAS Harris, DPM, FACFAS (left), to the Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy as well as Xiaoming Shi, M.D. (right), to the Division of Trauma and Acute Surgery. Both are clinical assistant professors.

University of Alabama at Birmingham Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Associate Professor and Trauma Medical Director Daniel Cox, M.D., has been awarded the Brewer-Heslin Endowed Award for Professionalism in Medicine.

Two Surgery Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) students, mentored by UAB Department of Surgery faculty, recently won awards at the UAB Summer Expo in the live oral presentation category.

The UAB Department of Surgery has three new faculty joining in August and September: Hampton Gray, M.D. (left), Sabrina Goddard, M.D. (middle),  and Sasha Still, M.D. (right).

The Center for Injury Science (CIS) at UAB  has partnered with CSL Behring to support the management of one of the largest ever trauma clinical trials.

University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Surgery Professor and UAB James and John Kirklin Institute for Research in Surgical Outcomes Director James Kirklin, M.D., has been named president of World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery (WSPCHS).

Brandon Blake, a respiratory therapist with UAB’s trauma team and master sergeant in the United States Air Force, has been named as one of the Air Force’s Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2022.

Aaron Beckwith, M.D., and David Northern, M.D., FACS, two clinical assistant professors from the UAB Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, are leaving UAB and moving on to the next chapters in their careers.

University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Surgery General Surgery Residency Program Director and Associate Professor Britney Corey, M.D., MACM, FACS, has been named an associate member in the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.

With great sadness, the UAB Department of Surgery announces the passing of a phenomenal surgeon and friend, Dr. George Yang. George passed in the community of his family and friends, and we take great comfort knowing that his end-of-life care was reflective of the love of the many individuals who worked alongside and knew George.

Many General Surgery Residents were elected for the honor of being mentors within the UAB School of Medicine (SOM) Housestaff Learning Community (LC).

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery graduating chief residents present awards to Division of Plastic Surgery Assistant Professor Prasanth Patcha, M.D., MEng, FACS, and community partner Alvin Cohn.

To honor 25 years of Cancer Awareness Network (CAN), Division of Breast and Endocrine Surgery Assistant Professor and Associate Vice Chair of Global Surgery Lily Gutnik, M.D., will be featured in the CAN Cancer Empowerment Summit 2022 on August 26 at Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, Alabama.

UAB Division of Trauma and Acute Surgery Assistant Professor Jillian Richter, Ph.D., alongside her colleagues including Department of Pediatrics Assistant Professor Robert Richter, M.D., published “Glycocalyx heparan sulfate cleavage promotes endothelial cell angiopoietin-2 expression by impairing shear stress-related AMPK/FoxO1 signaling” in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

James P. Hayes, Jr., Endowed Professor in Gastrointestinal Oncology and Director of the UAB Division of Surgical Oncology in the Department of Surgery Vikas Dudeja, MBBS, has been selected to participate in the 2022 Society of University Surgeons (SUS) Leaders Program. 

This year, Professor and Director of the Division of Plastic Surgery Jorge de la Torre, M.D., MSHA, MSHQS, FACS, served as president of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (SESPRS).

We sat down with de la Torre to learn more about his time as president of SESPRS.

The UAB Department of Surgery is committed to training and equipping the next generation of surgeons. Our fellowship training programs prepare surgeons for rich careers in their areas of specialty.

Division of Transplantation Professor and Surgical Director of Kidney Transplantation Michael J. Hanaway, M.D., was named the inaugural recipient of the Martha Robinson Tankersley Endowed Professorship in Transplant Clinical Excellence.

UAB General Surgery Resident Mallory Perez, M.D., was awarded the 2022 Society of University Surgeons (SUS) Resident and Fellow Presentation Award.

UAB General Surgery Resident Connie Shao, M.D., MSPH, was awarded the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons (SAAS) and Association of Women Surgeons (AWS) Resident Travel Award.

The Medical School for International Health Alumni Council selected Lily Gutnik, M.D., UAB Department of Surgery associate vice chair for global surgery and assistant program director for global surgery for the General Surgery Residency Program, to serve as the 2022 Physician's Oath Speaker.

The Department of Surgery is pleased to welcome Ayanabha Chakraborti, M.S., Ph.D. (left), to the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery as an instructor as well as Bassam Shukrallah, M.D. (right), to the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery as an assistant professor.

Division of Breast and Endocrine Surgery Assistant Professor and Associate Vice Chair of Global Surgery discusses breast cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The month of May was Trauma Awareness Month, and the UAB Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery worked with state and local government officials to spread the word.

When John Holcomb, M.D., FACS, professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, was asked back in April if he would join a medical nonprofit to assist surgeons in Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, he didn’t hesitate to say yes.

Two clinical assistant professors within the University of Alabama at Birmingham Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery who serve as active duty surgeons within the United States Air Force have been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.