As part of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (SESPRS) annual meeting, the organization hosts a medical student abstract competition, where the top eight abstracts submitted are selected for oral presentation in a special session. For the first time in recent history of this competition, six of the eight selected abstracts were current or former medical students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

This year, the 63rd annual meeting was converted to a virtual meeting, as is the case with several large gatherings and meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the following students had an opportunity to present their abstract in a virtual setting:

• Ashlynn Clark (MS1) – UAB: "Evaluation and Analysis of Free Flap Usage for Treatment for Gunshot Wounds to the Frontal Sinus"
• Gabriella E. Glassman – Vanderbilt University: “Pediatric Orbital Entrapment: Should Radiographic Findings Replace Physical Exam?”
• John Lindsey, Jr. (Visiting Scholar) – UAB: “The Case for Onlay Biologic Mesh in Abdominal Wall Reconstruction
• Shivani Ananthasekar (MS3)  – UAB: “Outcomes of Two Stage Prepectoral Breast Reconstruction: Analysis of Complications During Stage One”
• Richard Pigg (MS1) – UAB: “Determining if Altmetric Score Impacts Citations in the Plastic Surgery Literature”
• Metta Smith (MS1) – UAB: “A Skin Substitute: 3D Printed Human Dermal Fibroblasts and Human Keratinocyte “
• Edgar Soto (MS2) – UAB: “Managing Feeding and Airway Obstructions in Infants with Pierre Robin Sequence”
• Courtney Swan - University of Florida: “Characteristics Associated with Salvage of Infected Breast Tissue Expander”

Additional authors of the above abstracts included UAB medical students: Joseph Willis (MS1), Jason Patel (MS2), Rachel Tindal (MS2), Carter Boyd (MS4) and John Wilson (MS4), as well as former student Claire Davis, M.D., who is now a PGY1 in the Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency at UT Southwestern. The final student author was a visiting scholar, John Lindsey, Jr. who is a current LSU medical student and spent the last year at UAB performing research.

The SESPRS is comprised of plastic surgeons from 11 southeastern states, including Puerto Rico. This means that UAB medical students were competing against students from other high-achieving medical programs at the following universities: Duke, Vanderbilt, Louisiana State, Wake Forest, North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Miami, South Florida, Emory and more.

The UAB Department of Surgery offers its congratulations to these medical students on a wonderful accomplishment. Learn more about the UAB Plastic Surgery Residency program and the UAB School of Medicine.

The SESPRS is committed to maintaining professional excellence in the specialty through quality education. The Society recognizes the breadth of the specialty and that the educational needs of its Members are varied. Their strategy to improve surgeon competence and patient outcome in our Membership is reflected in educational meeting content. Learn more about the SESPRS.