USA College of Medicine Division of Medical Education Publishes CURRents Newsletter

The University of South Alabama College of Medicine’s Division of Medical Education has created a new newsletter, CURRents, that will be published three times each year.

Dr. Anthony Gard, assistant dean for medical education and professor of neuroscience at the USA College of Medicine, said the newsletter was created to inform USA College of Medicine faculty, residents and students about ongoing developments in the medical education program. It also provides results of student performance on board examinations toward licensure.

“The Curriculum Committee works at the heart of this process by overseeing the design, implementation and assessment of a complex, multi-faceted program, which has undergone extensive renewal in recent years,” Dr. Gard said. “CURRents gives the 33 faculty and students who comprise the Curriculum Committee a mechanism to communicate to nearly 1,000 educators and students new initiatives, performance feedback, and the spirit of continuous quality improvement that define our progress and move us forward.”

To view the first issue of the newsletter and to subscribe, click here.  

COM Alum Dr. David Adkison Presents Lecture

USA College of Medicine alum Dr. David Adkison speaks Feb. 25, 2015, during the University of South Alabama Medical Alumni Association Lecture.

The University of South Alabama Medical Alumni Association recently hosted a lecture featuring Dr. David Adkison, orthopedic surgeon at St. Vincent’s Orthopedics, PC, in Birmingham, Ala.

Dr. Adkison, a 1984 graduate of the USA College of Medicine and decorated Navy veteran, served as chair of the department of orthopedics at the National Naval Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Dr. Adkison also served as an attending orthopedic surgeon for the White House Medical Unit and U.S. Capital Physician’s Office.  His patients have included former President Bill Clinton, members of Congress, members of the Cabinet, Supreme Court and foreign dignitaries. Dr. Adkison completed his residency at the National Naval Medical Center and specializes in sports medicine and surgery of the knee and shoulder.

In addition to his impressive military background and experience providing medical care to top U.S. leaders, Dr. Adkison co-founded an orthopedic practice in Shanghai, China, as part of the American Medical Center.

The event was held as part of the Medical Alumni Speaker Series.

USA Mourns Loss of Dr. Nathan Aronson

Dr. Nathan Aronson, former distinguished professor and chair of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, passed away on March 1, 2015. He was 74.

Dr. Aronson earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Duke University in Durham, N.C. He completed post-doctoral work in cell biology at Rockefeller University and molecular biology at Vanderbilt University. In addition, Dr. Aronson completed a Guggenheim Fellowship, British-American Heart Fellowship, Helen Way Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship, and NIH Predoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Aronson also was recognized as president of the Association of Chairmen of Biochemistry Departments of Medical Schools and was mentioned by name in the 1974 Nobel Prize acceptance speech of his postdoctoral mentor, Dr. Christian de Duve.

After serving in the biochemistry department at Penn State for 23 years, Dr. Aronson joined USA in 1992, where he stayed for the remainder of his academic career. Dr. Aronson retired from USA in 2007, after 15 years of service to the University.

While at USA, Dr. Aronson served in numerous roles. He was a member of the USA College of Medicine’s Executive Council; LCME sub-committee chair for the basic science departments; member and chair of medical admissions; chair of the Distinguished Scientists Seminar Program; BEAR minority teacher and a member of the committee; chair of the University Conflict of Interest Committee; LCME sub-committee chair for governance/administration; faculty senate; and a member of the patent committee.

Dr. Aronson was a reviewer for many professional journals and was a member of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Association of Medical and Graduate Departments of Biochemistry, the British Biochemical Society and the Society for Glycobiology.

Dr. Aronson is survived by his loving wife Judy Fuller Aronson and their three children: Michael Goodman Aronson (Keri), Molly Elizabeth Aronson Stevens (Tyler), and Jennifer Fuller Aronson (Peter).

A memorial service will be held at the Springhill Avenue Temple on March 4, 2015, at 2:30 p.m. with family visitation at 1:30 p.m.

Donations in honor of Dr. Aronson can be made to the Springhill Avenue Temple, Covenant Hospice, or the USA College of Medicine.

Mark Your Calendar: Match Day 2015

Jamie Hennigan and Tiara Murphy try to look into their match envelopes prior to opening them during last year's Match Day celebration.

On March 20, 2015, senior medical students and residency training program directors across the United States and Canada will find out this year’s Match Day results.

Locally, the University of South Alabama’s Match Day will be held at 10:30 a.m. CST, on March 20, 2015, in the Upper Concourse Grand Ballroom at the Mobile Convention Center at 1 South Water Street in Mobile, Ala. The envelopes containing Match results will be handed out to the students shortly before 11 a.m. followed by the students’ individual announcement of the location of their residency.

The National Residency Matching Program, or Match Day, is the annual event in which senior medical students across North America simultaneously learn where they will be doing their residency training.

The Match process works as such: after interviewing with different residency programs - both near and far - students provide a ranking of their top-choice programs in order of preference. The training programs, in turn, rank the students who interviewed. Students are then matched based on a mutual ranking with a specific residency program.

The USA Heath System currently has 74 senior medical students and 11 residency programs. This year, there are 67 residency positions at USA- the large majority of which will be filled through the matches.

The NRMP matches applicants’ preferences for residency positions with program directors’ preferences for applicants. Each year, thousands of medical school seniors compete for approximately 24,000 residency positions across the United States.

This year's Match Day will be streamed live here. In addition, Match Day results for University of South Alabama students will be tweeted live on the USA College of Medicine Twitter page found here. There will also be streaming on the USA College of Medicine Instagram page found here and updates on the Facebook page found here.

Share your own posts and photos using the hashtag #USAMatchDay.