UAB medical student Vincent A. Laufer, M.D., Ph.D., was awarded the William Boyd Medal at the School of Medicine Dean's Awards Zoom ceremony earlier this month. The Boyd Medal is given every year to the UAB medical student whose performance in all aspects of their pathology education has been most outstanding. 

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Dr. Laufer was a member of the Medical Scientist Training Program (M.D.-Ph.D.) at UAB. The subject of his dissertation research was the genetic basis of Rheumatoid Arthritis in global populations, work he conducted in conjunction with Dr. S. Louis Bridges, Jr., Director of the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology. Laufer also collaborated with the Division of Genomic Diagnostics and Bioinformatics in the UAB Department of Pathology. Vincent has accepted a position in the Pathology Residency Program in the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan.

The Boyd Medal has been awarded continuously since 1967 and is given on behalf of the Alabama Association of Pathologists and the faculty of the UAB Department of Pathology to the graduating medical student whose performance in Pathology throughout their medical school career has been most exemplary. This award was named in honor of Dr. William Boyd who came to UAB as a visiting professor from 1955 to 1962.

Dr. Boyd is considered by many to be one of the fathers of modern pathology education. He was born in Scotland in 1885 and obtained his medical degree in 1908 at Edinburgh. He was a medical officer in the First World War and published his first book, With a Field Ambulance at Ypres in 1916, about his war experience. After the war he moved to University of Manitoba in Canada where he rose to the rank of professor of pathology. During his career Dr. Boyd published seven textbooks, one of which was the first pathology text to emphasize pathophsyiology and pathogenesis. This book was used worldwide as the primary pathology text for health professional students. Boyd was an excellent author noted for his clear prose, and also an excellent speaker who was often in high demand. One publisher once referred to Dr. Boyd as, "The pathologist with a silver tongue and a golden pen."

The Alabama Association of Pathologists and the faculty of the UAB Department of Pathology congratulate Vincent A. Laufer, M.D., Ph.D. on winning the 2020 Boyd Medal.