Wick Many, M.D., dean of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine Montgomery Regional Campus, has been named to a list of 10 influential leaders shaping the River Region by the Montgomery Advertiser. The newspaper has tapped 10 companies, industry leaders and entrepreneurs who are cited for changing what it means to live and work in Central Alabama.
Many, who holds the Virginia Loeb Weil Endowed Professorship in Medical Education, is described as a respected, longtime physician and educator at the UAB Montgomery campus. “In that role, Many is helping to shape the next generation of caring, young doctors in an area with an aging healthcare workforce and growing systemic problems,” according to the paper’s published account. “His approach and reputation have helped unify the community in support of the school’s work here.”
The Montgomery campus has served as a residency training site since 1974. UAB’s Montgomery Internal Medicine Residency Program has 27 residents training at Baptist Medical Center South and outpatient clinics throughout the River Region.
Under Many’s leadership, the campus began accepting third- and fourth-year medical students to perform their clinical training in Montgomery in 2014. The first five graduated in spring 2016. The program now enrolls 20 third- and fourth-year medical students per year.
Many and other UAB leaders anticipate that a number of these students will stay in the Montgomery area following graduation, helping to alleviate an impending physician shortage in Alabama. Research shows that many physicians tend to live and practice close to the areas where they did their medical training.
Many also says the regional campus approach can boost the numbers of graduates entering into one of the primary-care fields, another growing area of need for Alabama.