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Lauren Theiss, M.D., currently a second-year UAB general surgery resident, was recently selected for the Veterans Affairs Quality Scholars Fellowship Program at the Birmingham VA Medical Center.

Dr. Raoud Marayati

General surgery research resident Raoud Marayati, M.D., was recently awarded a $400 travel grant from the UAB Graduate Student Government to attend the 2019 American Pediatric Surgery Association annual meeting this summer, where she will present her research project, “PIM Kinases Mediate Cisplatin Resistance in Hepatoblastoma.”

The UAB Vascular Surgery Fellowship is expanding its resident-dedicated research program, opening up a new clinical spot for another graduating chief resident in general surgery. The position will become available on Aug. 1, 2019, with successful completion of the program expected by July 31, 2021.

The Division of Pediatric Surgery’s Colin Martin, M.D., has been named the recipient of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract’s 2019 Karen and Josef E. Fischer International Traveling Fellowship Award for Surgeons in Academic Practice. 

(Source: medicine.umich.edu/surgery)

Assistant Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology Brenessa Lindeman, M.D., MEHP, was recently selected to participate in the University of Michigan Department of Surgery’s 2020 Junior Faculty Exchange Program.

From left: Colin Quinn, Dr. Raoud Marayati, Lee Fernon, Dr. Elizabeth Beierle, Dr. Laura Stafman, Dr. Alicia Waters, Dr. Samantha Baker, Brandi Davis and Mandi Bires teamed up for the annual Lace Up for a Cure walk on Saturday, March 9, to benefit the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. (Photo courtesy of Alicia Waters)

Ten of our pediatric surgery faculty, nurses, trainees and lab members represented the Department of Surgery and Children’s of Alabama at Saturday’s Lace Up for a Cure 5K Walk to benefit the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. Their team, the UAB Pediatric Surgery Tumornator Squad, and even a few of their furry friends teamed up to participate in the annual walk, sporting some of their favorite UAB Department of Surgery merch.

Director of the UAB Pancreatobiliary Disease Center and Assistant Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology J. Bart Rose, M.D., MAS, recently served as the editor of the latest issue of Surgical Clinics of North America.

The UAB Cleft and Craniofacial Center at Children’s of Alabama, which includes Dr. John Grant, Dr. René Myers and Dr. Timothy King, received approval from the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association in January.

The UAB Cleft and Craniofacial Center at Children’s of Alabama is now home to the only American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association-approved teams in the state. The center’s cleft team and craniofacial team both recently received approval from the ACPA, making its comprehensive program the first of its kind to receive this distinction in Alabama.

By Daniel Bracker

The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery’s James George, Ph.D., recently received funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health in support of his project, “Mononuclear phagocytes in the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury.”

By Daniel Bracker

General surgery research resident Margaux Mustian, M.D., recently received a Young Investigator Award from the American Transplant Congress Planning Committee to attend the 2019 ATC.

The Division of Surgical Oncology’s Marty Heslin, M.D., MSHA, executive vice-chair of the Department of Surgery and chief of the medical staff at UAB Hospital, was recently named the Leadership Vestavia Hills Distinguished Citizen of the Year. Heslin was honored for this award at the 29th Annual Community Leadership Award Banquet last Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Vestavia Hills Country Club.

Dr. Mary T. Hawn presents the 2019 Kirby I. Bland, M.D., Visiting Lectureship on Tuesday, Feb. 26, in Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium. (Photo courtesy of @danileacm on Twitter)

Stanford University’s Mary T. Hawn, M.D., MPH, FACS, stressed the importance of careful interpretation when handling big data in her talk last Tuesday, as this year’s Kirby I. Bland, M.D., Visiting Professor. Hawn talked about the importance of interpretation in finding results at the 2019 lectureship, held in Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium at Surgery Grand Rounds.

Dr. Colin Martin

The Division of Pediatric Surgery’s Colin Martin, M.D., was recently asked to serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Surgical Research for a second term. Having already completed one three-year term on the board, Martin will continue to provide manuscript reviews for the journal in this role for another three years, beginning immediately and ending in December 2021.

The Division of Surgical Oncology’s Renata Jaskula-Sztul, Ph.D., was recently awarded a $40,000 Junior Faculty Development Grant for her pilot project, “Pharmacological overexpression of somatostatin receptor type 2 (SSTR2) in neuroendocrine tumors for improved {₆₈Ga]DOTATATE imaging and treatment.”

The UAB Department of Surgery was recently awarded a training grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to support research fellowships for eight medical students, as part of the department’s Short-Term Research Experiences Advancing Medical Students program.

Dr. Colin Martin

The Division of Pediatric Surgery’s Colin Martin, M.D., was recently selected to serve as the Society of Black Academic Surgeons representative to the Association for Academic Surgery.

Martin’s two-year term in this role will begin after the 15th Annual Academic Surgical Congress in Orlando, Florida, next February, and will also earn him a seat on the AAS Executive Council.

With more than $5.5 million in 2018 research funding from the National Institutes of Health, UAB comes in at No. 22, nationally, among the 75 other departments of surgery recently ranked by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. Jumping seven spots since Blue Ridge’s 2017 rankings, the UAB Department of Surgery saw a roughly 59-percent increase in NIH funding since last year when it placed No. 29.

UAB as a whole placed No. 23 on Blue Ridge’s ranking of universities who received NIH funding in 2018, with nearly $300 million. About $233 million of that total was awarded to the School of Medicine, which came in at No. 21 on Blue Ridge’s list of the country’s medical schools, up from No. 31 just five years ago.

Read more about UAB’s 2018 rankings here.

The Division of Acute Care Surgery’s Kimberly Hendershot, M.D., FACS, was recently appointed the chair of the American College of Surgeons Alabama Committee on Trauma.

Associate Professor in the Division of Plastic Surgery Timothy King, M.D., Ph.D., was recently elected to the board of directors of the Wound Healing Society.

The UAB Department of Surgery recently welcomed a new associate professor to the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery with the addition of Enrique Gongora, M.D.