UAB School of Medicine Art Show Features Students, Residents and Faculty

The ninth annual UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) School of Medicine’s 2009 Art Show continues to examine and showcase the link between art and medicine with 66 submissions from UAB faculty, residents and medical students.

February 3, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., -- The ninth annual UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) School of Medicine's 2009 Art Show continues to examine and showcase the link between art and medicine with 66 submissions from UAB faculty, residents and medical students.

The art show is presented by the Alabama chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha, the national honor society for medical school students, and the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences. The show runs through May 22 in the museum on the third floor of the Lister Hill Library, 1700 University Blvd. An awards ceremony and reception will be held at the museum at 4 p.m., Feb. 11, featuring remarks by John I. Kennedy, Jr. M.D., professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care at UAB.

The show features works including paintings, drawings, photography and sculpture. It was judged by a panel of UAB faculty, staff and students. The top three winners receive cash prizes, and all entries are on display in the museum.

"The opportunity for physicians and medical students to express themselves through art enhances their ability to interact with patients and families," said Stephen R. Smith, Ph.D., director of student life for the medical school and a contest judge. "The art show provides another means to creatively explore and express their own humanity, reinforcing a pathway to help them connect with all people on a basic human level."

The winning student entry is entitled Woman Combing her Hair, After Degas, a pastel on paper by second-year medical student Leslie Perry. First place in the Resident competition was won by Alicia Vogt, M.D., in obstetrics and gynecology, for an untitled pencil drawing. The winning faculty entry is Dichro Maze, a glass sculpture by Karen Dixon, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology.

In addition to Smith, the art submissions were judged by Brett Levine, director of the UAB Visual Arts Gallery; Stefanie Rookis, curator of the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences; and Virginia Radcliff, a fourth-year medical student and vice-president of Alpha Omega Alpha.