To get ready for next weekend’s American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Diego, California, we’re working on a UAB Surgery guide to ACS, but we need your help! If you’re presenting at ACS 2017, email surgcomm@uabmc.edu with the location, date, time and title of your talk so we can include it on our must-see UAB itinerary in next week’s newsletter and let us know what other events you’d like featured in the guide.

The Society of Asian Academic Surgeons Executive Council pose for a photo at the organization's second annual meeting, hosted by the UAB Department of Surgery at Children's Hospital.

By Bob Shepard

The University of Alabama at Birmingham hosted the second annual Society of Asian Academic Surgeons national meeting Sept. 21-22. Almost 200 surgeons attended the event from around the country, including 15 chairs of departments of surgery.

Rhiannon Reed, Dr.P.H., an epidemiologist in the lab of the Division of Transplantation’s Jayme Locke, M.D., was recently awarded an intramural grant from the Gulf States Health Policy Center for her project, “Population Health and Regional Disparities in Organ Access and Utilization.”

The Division of Pediatric Surgery’s Elizabeth Beierle, M.D., has been named vice chair for faculty development for the Department of Surgery. Beierle will take over as chair of the appointment, tenure and promotion process, as well as help the Division of Surgical Oncology’s Marshall M. Urist, M.D., lead the department’s faculty mentorship program.

Helen Krontiras, M.D.Dr. Helen Krontiras, director of the Division of Surgical Oncology, and Kimberly Hendershot, M.D., from the Division of Acute Care Surgery were recently accepted into the 2017-18 UAB Healthcare Leadership Academy training program.

Dr. Margaux Mustian, left, and Dr. Laura Hickman, right, say they pursued a career in transplant surgery in part due to the teaching and training they received from longtime UAB transplant surgeon Dr. Mark Deierhoi, center.

Dr. Sushanth ReddyGeneral surgery residents honored three faculty with awards at this year’s General Surgery Resident Graduation Chief Dinner, including Non-surgical Faculty Teacher of the Year Benjamin Tuck, M.D., assistant professor of cardiothoracic anesthesia; Marshall M. Urist Junior Faculty Teacher of the Year Sushanth Reddy, M.D., assistant professor of surgical oncology; and Kirby I. Bland Surgical Faculty Teacher of the Year Mark Deierhoi, M.D., director of UAB’s Renal Transplant Program and professor in the Division of Transplantation.

UAB Medicine has tapped Department of Surgery Chair Herbert Chen, M.D.; Cheri Canon, M.D., FACR; and C. Seth Landefeld, M.D., as physician leaders to join the newly formed Joint Operating Leadership Committee.

Dr. Courtney BalentineThe Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery’s Courtney Balentine, M.D., has received a GEMSSTAR R03 research grant totaling $111,375 from the NIH for his “Pilot Study of Dissemination and Implementation of a Virtual Acute Care for the Elderly Program on a Gastrointestinal Surgery Unit.”

The UAB Department of Surgery receives most IT support from HSIS. For any technical support or service requests, faculty, trainees and staff can contact the Help Desk at 205-934-8888 or email the Help Desk at helpdesk@uabmc.edu.

The Division of Pediatric Surgery, those regularly working at Children's of Alabama, and some research units use DOM IT for technical support. For help from the DOM IT team, please email domhelp@uab.edu or call 205-975-3616. 

The UAB Department of Surgery Chair's Office takes a break to check out Monday's solar eclipse.

U.S. News & World Report’s 2016-2017 Best Hospitals report ranks UAB Cardiology and Heart Surgery No. 30 in the nation and lists Orthopedics and Gastroenterology/GI Surgery as high-performing.

In our new “Meet the Residents” video series, five residents from our General Surgery Residency talk about their experiences within the program. Check out their stories on the Department of Surgery website or follow the Residency’s Youtube playlist here.

The Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery’s Daniel Chu, M.D., has received an appointment as a UAB PCOR K12 Scholar in the UAB K12 in Patient Centered Outcomes Research Career Development Program.

This month, the Department of Surgery welcomes several new faculty recruits to the UAB family.

Dr. Margaux MustianCongratulations to general surgery resident Margaux Mustian, M.D., who recently won a $500 Fall 2017 Travel Award from the Office of Postdoctoral Education. Mustian said she plans on using the award to travel to the American College of Surgeons 2017 Clinical Congress in San Diego in October to present an oral presentation on ABO incompatible kidney transplantation.

Dr. Shannon CarrollThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has again selected UAB as a medical center for the Crash Injury Research Engineering Network (CIREN) Program. The current award is $2.3 million over a period of five years, and the Division of Acute Care Surgery’s Shannon Carroll, M.D., serves as the principal investigator. The mission of the CIREN is to improve the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of motor vehicle crash injuries to reduce deaths, disabilities, and human and economic costs. UAB has served as a medical center for CIREN since 2010.

Dr. Parker HuShoutout to the Division of Acute Care Surgery’s Parker Hu, M.D., who received an American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Research and Education Foundation Scholarship to attend the 76th Annual Meeting of the AAST and Clinical Congress of Acute Care Surgery, Sept. 13-16 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Congratulations to the Division of Surgical Oncology’s Renata Jaskula-Sztul, Ph.D., who recently received a financial award for her research project.

As you might be aware, the IRB has begun to accept electronic submissions via the My Human Subjects module in IRAP as of Monday, June 26, 2017.

Because of this, the Department of Surgery has revised our submission process for Departmental Review and signature on the PORF form. You can now email your submission package to our contacts, Debbie Lowman and/or Lisa Clemons, instead of dropping off a hard copy of the submission package.

Could you serve as an expert on a current hot media topic? Are you willing to share your expertise and opinion with media?

Congratulations to Sherry Collawn, M.D., Ph.D., and Timothy King, M.D., Ph.D., who recently received awards for their research projects.

Way to go, general surgery resident Alicia Waters, M.D., who matched into the Pediatric Surgery Fellowship at Children’s of Alabama. Waters will begin her fellowship in 2019.

The UAB Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship is excited to welcome Aimal Khan, M.D., as its newest fellow for the 2018-2019 academic year. Khan will join the program August 1, 2018, from the Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Congratulations to Gautam Bhatia, M.D., who will graduate from our Thoracic Surgery Residency Program on June 30 and begin his career as an attending physician in the Greenville Health System’s Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 1.

PGY-6 thoracic surgery resident Paul Linsky, M.D., attended the Society for Thoracic Surgery’s Legislative Fly-in in Washington, D.C., last week after receiving the STS Legislative Fly-in Scholarship. Shoutout to PGY-6 thoracic surgery resident, Paul Linsky, M.D., who attended the Society for Thoracic Surgery’s Legislative Fly-in in Washington, D.C., last week after receiving the STS Legislative Fly-in Scholarship. The STS Legislative Fly-in is an annual event that seeks to update participants on policy issues specific to cardiothoracic surgery and offer meetings with lawmakers to discuss how those issues could impact patient care.

Dr. Sara Pereira talks heart disease with Jeh Jeh Pruitt on WBRC-TV's Good Day Alabama.Don’t miss out on the 2017 Birmingham Heart Walk tomorrow at Uptown at the BJCC!

The Division of Acute Care Surgery is pleased to announce the addition of Jan O. Jansen, M.B.B.S., Dr. Med., Ph.D., currently a consultant trauma surgeon and intensivist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, Scotland, and St. Mary’s Hospital in London, England.

The second annual Surgery Bootcamp took place earlier last month, May 1-12, and was hosted by Kimberly Hendershot, M.D., Britney Corey, M.D., Richard Stahl, M.D., and the Department of Surgery, and supported by the Office of Interprofessional Simulation team.

General surgery residents (from left to right) Margaux Mustian, M.D., Taylor Geraldson, M.D., Woody Farrington, M.D., Omeed Moaven, M.D., and Kavina Juneja , M.D., said they are looking forward to having a place to relax.The UAB Department of Surgery and General Surgery Residency Program are excited to announce plans for a new resident lounge space on the second floor of the Boshell Diabetes Building. This 3,040-square-foot area is expected to open in late 2017 and will feature a kitchen, a conference room, a sitting area, showers and lockers for general surgery residents.

Dr. Carla HolcombCongratulations to fourth-year general surgery residents Carla N. Holcomb, M.D., and Charles J. Keith, Jr., M.D., who matched into The Ohio State University’s Minimally Invasive/Bariatric Surgery Fellowship program and the Cleveland Clinic’s Advanced Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgery Fellowship program, respectively.