Selwyn Vickers, M.D., senior vice president and dean of the UAB School of Medicine.A small group of eminent leaders from business, academia, medicine, science and public policy will make up the UAB School of Medicine’s inaugural Board of Visitors and meet twice a year to advise Senior Vice President and Dean Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., in support of the school’s vision to become the preferred academic medical center of the 21st century.
The Board of Visitors, made up of leaders with and without ties to Alabama or UAB and co-chaired by Ted W. Love, M.D., and Gail H. Cassell, Ph.D., will hold its inaugural meeting Sept. 19 with the goals of serving as advocates and advisers on strategy, philanthropic initiatives and community engagement and of providing independent perspectives on School of Medicine initiatives.
The agenda includes presentations by UAB faculty on key research initiatives — diabetes, neurosciences, cardiovascular disease, and personalized medicine and genomics.
“In the 11 months since I returned to Alabama to serve as senior vice president and dean of the School of Medicine at UAB, I have gained a deeper appreciation for this institution, its people, and the promise it holds for transforming medicine and science across a wide range of disciplines,” Vickers said. “More than ever, I am convinced we have a compelling and inspiring story to tell, and that we need to do a better job of telling that story outside the Southeast. The Board will help us do that.”
Board members are:
Mary C. Battle of Tuscaloosa, Alabama: a former oncology nurse and health care administrator
Thomas A. Blount of Los Angeles and Italy’s Amalfi Coast: an AIDS activist, arts patron and film producer, and a native of Montgomery, Alabama
Gail H. Cassell, Ph.D., of Indianapolis, Indiana: senior lecturer on global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School and former chair of the UAB Department of Microbiology, and a native of Goodwater, Alabama
Mary D. Fisher of Sedona, Arizona: an artist, author and founder of the Mary Fisher Clinical AIDS Research and Education (CARE) Fund at UAB
T. Michael Goodrich of Birmingham, Alabama: president of Goodrich Management
Harry B. Greenberg, M.D., of Palo Alto, California: senior associate dean of research at Stanford University
David F. Hale of San Diego, California: chief executive officer of Hale BioPharma Ventures LLC, and a native of Huntsville, Alabama
Mimi Head of Birmingham, Alabama: owner and chief executive officer of Ram Tool
James C. Lee III of Birmingham, Alabama: president and chief executive officer of Buffalo Rock
Kevin E. Lofton of Denver, Colorado: president of Catholic Health Initiatives and former chief executive officer of UAB Hospital
Ted W. Love, M.D., of Sonoma, California: chief executive officer of Global Blood Therapeutics, and a native of Huntsville, Alabama
George D. Lundberg Jr., M.D., of Los Gatos, California: former editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association and an alumnus of the School of Medicine, and a native of Silverhill, Alabama
Martine A. Rothblatt, Ph.D., J.D., of Silver Spring, Maryland: founder and chief executive officer of United Therapeutics