Students in the UAB School of Medicine will observe national Primary Care week Oct. 5-9 with a week filled with student-driven lunch lecture events to increase awareness of primary care needs in Alabama and across the country.“Primary Care is a concern for UAB because, as the largest state medical school, we have a commitment to serve Alabama and its citizens,” said Bill Curry, M.D., associate dean for Primary Care and Rural Health in the UAB School of Medicine. “Alabama has a major shortage of primary care physicians— only five counties in our state have enough primary care doctors to meet the needs of the county’s population.”
Primary care specialties include family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, geriatrics and a combination specialty in medicine and pediatrics.
Primary Care education and providing the primary care workforce for Alabama is a targeted initiative in AMC21, the strategic plan for UAB Medicine. The School of Medicine has several programs, including the Dean’s Primary Care Scholars Program, the Tuscaloosa-based Rural Medical Scholars Program and the Huntsville-based Rural Medical Programs—all created to increase the number of primary care physicians.
“Our state has a desperate need for PCPs. Despite what field they ultimately choose, it is important for students to have a firm understanding of primary care as they are future of medicine,” said Katie Woods, second-year medical student and Primary Care Week chair.
Primary Care Week events will begin on Friday, Oct. 2 with a kickoff breakfast, featuring fliers about the week’s events and Primary Care Week merchandise, at 7:30 a.m. in the lobby of Volker Hall. As a community service project for the week, student organizers will collect hygiene items for Equal Access Birmingham, the medical student-run health clinic for underserved individuals in the community.
Each lunch lecture the week of Oct. 5 begins at noon in Volker Hall Lecture Room E.
Monday, Oct. 5– “Primary Care Q & A Panel.” Physician representatives from each of the primary care interest groups will engage in discussion. Panelists include Davidson Scott, M.D.; Lisa Willett, M.D.; Morissa Ladinsky, M.D.; Jason Hartig, M.D.; and Kimberly Hoover, M.D. School of Medicine Dean Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., F.A.C.S., will help kickoff Primary Care Week at this event.
Tuesday, Oct. 6 – “Health Care Policy and Public Health: Impact on Primary Care,” with speakers William Ferniany, Ph.D., CEO of the UAB Health System, and Elizabeth Turnipseed, M.D., MSPH, professor of Medicine and vice president for Population Health in the UAB Health System.
Wednesday, Oct. 7– “Service in Primary Care” with speaker Kathleen Castellanos, M.D.
Thursday, Oct. 8—“Choosing Med-Peds” with Cleon Rogers, M.D.
Friday, Oct. 9– “Primary Care and Our Patients” with Alan Blum, M.D., professor and endowed chair in family medicine and director of the University of Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society.