University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine

Last updated
University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine
University of Alabama School of Medicine at UAB.jpg
Former names
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, Medical College of Alabama
Type Public
Established1859 [1]
Parent institution
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Dean Anupam Agarwal
Location, ,
33°30′00″N86°48′27″W / 33.500000°N 86.807500°W / 33.500000; -86.807500
Website https://www.uab.edu/medicine/home/
UASOM Seal.png

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine [2] is the medical school of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) located in Birmingham, Alabama, United States with branch campuses in Huntsville, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa. Residency programs are also located in Selma, Huntsville, and Montgomery. It is part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the UAB Health System, one of the largest academic medical centers in the United States.

Contents

Founding and growth

The School of Medicine at UAB can trace its roots to the 1859 founding of the Medical College of Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. The move of the college from Mobile to Tuscaloosa took effect in 1920. [3]

In 1936, the University of Alabama Extension Center was opened in Birmingham. [4] In 1943, Governor Chauncey Sparks created the four-year Medical College of Alabama with the passage of the Jones Bill (Alabama Act 89). In 1944, Roy R. Kracke was named dean of the Medical College of Alabama and began assembling teaching staff.[ citation needed ]

In 1945, the Medical College of Alabama was moved from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham and the university's medical center was founded. [5] In November 1966, the Extension Center and the Medical Center were merged to form the "University of Alabama in Birmingham," an organizational component of The University of Alabama. In 1969, UAB became an independent institution, one of three autonomous universities within the newly created University of Alabama System. [6] The university's name was changed in 1984 from the "University of Alabama in Birmingham" to the "University of Alabama at Birmingham." [6]

In 2021, the UAB School of Medicine received a $95 million single lead gift from a longtime supporter of UAB, Dr. Marnix E. Heersink, resulting to naming the medical school in honor of his name to UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, with an additional $5 million from Triton Health Systems, that total in $100 million, the largest single philanthropic donation and gift in UAB history. [7] [8]

The UAB Heersink School of Medicine is home to The Kirklin Clinic, a multi-disciplinary medical home; University Hospital, one of the largest academic hospitals in the country; and faculty serve the new Children's of Alabama hospital. [9]

Leadership

Selwyn Vickers, M.D. Selwyn Vickers.jpg
Selwyn Vickers, M.D.

On August 15, 2013, UAB announced Selwyn Vickers, M.D., would be the next senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the School of Medicine effective October 15, 2013. Vickers spent his formative years as a young faculty member at UAB, beginning in 1994, and he directed the section of gastrointestinal surgery from 2000 to 2006. He was previously the Jay Phillips Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School. [10]

Anupam Agarwal, M.D., served as interim dean of the School of Medicine for eight months from February to October 2013 after Ray Watts, M.D., former dean of the School of Medicine, was named the seventh president of UAB in January 2013. Agarwal returned to his position as director of the Division of Nephrology and vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine on October 15, 2013.[ citation needed ]

Campuses

The main campus of UAB Heersink School of Medicine is located in Birmingham, Alabama within the city's medical district. [11]

Tuscaloosa

The UAB Tuscaloosa Regional Campus is the home for the Primary Care Track with foundation in clinical medicine that is housed at the University of Alabama's College of Community Health Sciences.

Huntsville

The UAB School of Medicine maintains a branch campus in Huntsville affiliated with Huntsville Hospital. The Huntsville campus was originally a part of the University of Alabama in Huntsville; however, in 1974 UAB assumed control over the Huntsville program.[ citation needed ]

Montgomery

UAB's Montgomery campus is a collaborative effort among UAB, Baptist Health and the city of Montgomery. Beginning in May 2014, 10 third-year medical students began taking classes in Montgomery.[ citation needed ]

Distinctions

Notable faculty and alumni

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. "The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)". www.uab.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  2. "UAB School of Medicine to be renamed after record $95M gift". 28 September 2021.
  3. "1920s - Libraries | UAB". library.uab.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  4. "UAB - Libraries - UAB History". library.uab.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  5. Pennycuff, Tim L. (2006). "University of Alabama School of Medicine". Academic Medicine. 81 (7): 645. doi: 10.1097/01.ACM.0000232415.50765.34 .
  6. 1 2 "School of Medicine Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  7. "Largest UAB medical school gift will be 'transformative'". 9 June 2024.
  8. "UAB gets largest gift in history". 11 June 2024.
  9. Gorelick, Kerry. "UAB - School of Medicine - About".
  10. Colmenares, Clinton. "UAB - School of Medicine - News - Selwyn Vickers, M.D., chosen to lead UAB School of Medicine".
  11. "UAB - School of Medicine - Campuses".
  12. "Marie-Carmelle Elie, M.D., is the first Black woman to be named a full professor and permanent chair of an academic emergency medicine department at a major American medical school". Doctor Gator. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  13. Rodriguez, Fred H. (June 2009). "Emma Sadler Moss, MD: The First Woman Director of the Department of Pathology at Charity Hospital in New Orleans and the First Woman President of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists". Laboratory Medicine. 40 (6): 377–378. doi: 10.1309/LMIO8Q47EDQBNUZD .