Kirby Bland, M.D., Fay Fletcher Kerner Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief of the UAB Health System Hospitals and Clinics, was named the 2014 Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, the highest honor bestowed by the UAB Academic Health Center. Bland, a consummate surgeon, educator and clinician scientist will deliver the lecture, “Evolution of Evidence-Based Science and Education at UAB” at a seated dinner in his honor, 6 p.m. Nov. 12 in the UAB National Alumni Society House.
An Alabama native, Bland received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and pre-medical biological sciences from Auburn University and graduated from the University of Alabama School of Medicine at UAB in 1968. He completed his internship and one year of residency at the University of Florida in general surgery before entering the U.S. Army. After his tour of duty, he completed his residency training and then a fellowship in surgical oncology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He served on the faculties at University of Louisville, University of Florida and Brown University before coming to UAB as chair of the Department of Surgery.
During his tenure as chair, UAB’s Department of Surgery has ranked in the top 10 of National Institutes of Health-supported surgery departments and was the only one to have two Specialized Project of Research Excellence grants — in breast and pancreatic cancer. He has been continuously funded in cancer-related science and research, with emphasis on breast, colorectal and gastrointestinal malignancies, for his entire academic career. He is principal investigator on an NCI surgical oncology research-training grant and on the UAB breast cancer SPORE.
Bland, who is the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Surgery, has published more than 600 scientific papers in peer-reviewed publications, served on the editorial board of 18 peer-reviewed journals and edited six textbooks. He has been president of six national surgical societies, most recently the American Surgical Association. He has at least 150 visiting professorships and more than 400 invited presentations.
As a renowned leader and scholar, Bland’s most notable contribution is his unsurpassed commitment to training future academic surgeons in the field of surgical scientific investigation. His trainees populate the surgical faculty at top academic institutions across the nation.