Dr. Brandi McCleskey, UAB Pathology Residency Program Director, with 2023 Boyd Medal Awardee Karan Goel, M.D.by Christina Crowe

UAB medical student Karan Goel is the 2023 recipient of the William Boyd Medal, distributed at the 2023 University of Alabama School of Medicine Dean's Awards ceremony, held on May 20, 2023. The Boyd Medal is given each year to the UAB medical student whose performance in all aspects of their pathology education has been most outstanding.

This award has been presented annually since 1967 in honor of Dr. William Boyd who was a visiting professor of Pathology at UAB from 1955 to 1962.

Dr. Boyd graduated from medical school in Edinburgh, Scotland just in time to be conscripted to serve as a medical officer during WWI. After the war he moved to Canada and although he had begun his career as an Internist, soon switched to pathology.  He was a pioneer in describing the pathogenesis of diseases and investigating clinic-pathologic correlations. Boyd published seven textbooks, one of which became the gold standard for medical education all over the world and this textbook went through 20 editions.  He was an excellent author noted for his clear prose and he was also in high demand as an after dinner speaker.  One publisher referred to William Boyd as: the Pathologist with a silver tongue and a golden pen.

In honor of Dr. Boyd’s commitment to pathology and scientific inquiry, the UAB Department of Pathology, with support from the Alabama Association of Pathologists, established the William Boyd Medal and Cash Award that is given to the graduating student whose performance in Pathology through-out their medical school career has been most outstanding.  This year’s Boyd Medal recipient is Karan Goel, M.D.

Karan has matched into the pathology residency program at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, TX. Congratulations to Dr. Goel on this distinguished award.