Residents and fellows compete at annual academic exposition

Liliana Arriola Montenegro, M.D., a second-year resident in pediatrics, discusses her case with the judges. She won in the Clinical Vignette poster category.

USA Health residents and fellows competed at the 2024 Resident and Fellow Academic Exposition on May 1, at the Strada Patient Care Center. Hosted by the Office of Graduate Medical Education, the annual event is an opportunity for residents and fellows to display and share their scholarly activities with the USA Health and Whiddon College of Medicine community.

Anas Khouri, M.D., an internal medicine resident, won

in the Clinical and Translational Research category.

This year, 42 highly rated abstract submissions were selected to be presented in the poster competition. The three top-rated abstract submissions were selected as oral presentations. Participants presented clinical vignettes, research projects, quality improvement projects, and patient safety, education and advocacy projects. 

Cash prizes of $300 were awarded to the winners in the oral presentation category and three poster categories:

Oral Presentation
Charu Shastri, M.D., a first-year resident in pathology, won for her oral presentation, “Racial Disparity in Clinico-Pathological Spectrum of Incidental Prostate Cancer Diagnosed Following Transurethral Resection of Prostate (TURP).”

Clinical and Translational Research
Anas Khouri, M.D., third-year resident in internal medicine, won for his poster presentation, “Effect of Computer-Aided Detection Device on the Adenoma Detection Rate and Sessile Detection Rate Among Trainee Fellows: A Single Center Study.”

Quality Improvement/Performance Improvement
Audrey Gunn, M.D., a second-year resident in pediatrics, won for her poster presentation, “Increasing Maternal RSV Vaccination and Newborn RSV Immunization at Children’s & Women’s Hospital: An Ongoing Patient Care Initiative.”

Clinical Vignette
Liliana Arriola Montenegro, M.D., a second-year resident in pediatrics, won for her poster presentation, “A Case of Relapse of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Despite Successful Initial Treatment.”

View more photos from the expo on Flickr. 

Pathology resident takes first place at tri-state conference

Pathology resident Charu Shastri, M.D., presents at the Tri-State Pathology Conference. 

Charu Shastri, M.D., a first-year pathology resident, recently presented and won first place at the 2024 Tri-State Pathology Conference, held April 27-28 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. 

Shastri discussed racial disparity in the clinicopathological spectrum of incidental prostate cancer diagnosed following a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), which is the surgical removal of part of the prostate gland to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Co-authors from the Whiddon College of Medicine were Jatinder Kumar, M.D., assistant professor of urology; Christopher Keel, D.O., associate professor and chair of urology; Sarabjeet Sudan, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow; Guillermo A. Herrera, M.D., professor and chair of pathology; and Ajay P. Singh, Ph.D., professor of pathology.  

Residents and faculty who attended the conference

included, from left, Jawaria Rahman, M.D.; Xuebao

Zhang, M.D.; Rosetta Campbell, M.D.; Osama Elkadi,

M.D.; Muhammad Tahir, M.D.; and Eric Wei, M.D. 

Others who presented from the Department of Pathology were residents Ryan Walde, M.D.; Jawaria Rahman, M.D.; Rasha Mohammed, M.D.; Rosetta Campbell, M.D.; Lingling Xian, M.D.;  Xuebao Zhang, M.D.; and Muhammad Tahir, M.D.

The tri-state conference brings together the Alabama Association of Pathologists, the Louisiana Association of Pathologists, and the Mississippi Association of Pathologists.

Bassam receives teaching award from American Academy of Neurology

Bassam Bassam, M.D.

Bassam Bassam, M.D., FAAN, a professor of neurology at the Whiddon College of Medicine and a neuromuscular neurologist at USA Health, once again has received a top award that recognizes his commitment and service as an educator.

He recently was presented the 2024 A.B. Baker Teacher Recognition Award by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) at the organization’s annual meeting in Denver, Colorado.

The AAN, the world's largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with more than 40,000 members, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care, which includes diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system, such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, concussion, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy.

Bassam described the recognition as an appreciation for his teaching contributions and attestation of the neurology department’s dedication to the university’s educational mission.

“I am proud of supporting the University of South Alabama’s educational mission for 39 years, during which I contributed to training and graduating over 90 neurologists serving our area and all over the country,” he said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to our medical students’ educational programs and mission for nearly four decades.”

Incorporated in 1948, the AAN recognizes excellent teachers for their contributions to improving neurology now and in the future.

Teaching binds students, residents, faculty, other clinicians, researchers, and even patients together and helps make their daily work more meaningful, notes the organization. The award demonstrates respect and appreciation for neurologic teaching.

Late last year, Bassam unanimously was voted the recipient of the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine’s 2023 Distinguished Physician Award at that organization’s annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. It also honors distinguished service for clinicians and educators.

Bassam attended medical school at Aleppo University College of Medicine in Aleppo, Syria. After an internal medicine residency at Makassed General Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, he completed neurology residency training at Wayne State University (WSU), in Detroit, Michigan, and a neuromuscular disease and electromyography fellowship at WSU and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He served as a faculty member at the University of Michigan from 1982 to 1985, then joined USA Health in the fall of 1985 and served as the director of the Neuromuscular Clinic & EMG Laboratory.

Hartsell presents translational research at national conference

Emily Hartsell received the Blue Ribbon Award

for her poster at the TS24 conference.

Emily Hartsell, a rising third-year medical student, has devoted the past year to full-time research as the recipient of a highly competitive training award from the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS). She recently presented the findings from her research at the Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) Translational Science 24 (TS24) conference in Las Vegas. 

The ACTS selected her poster, “Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Warburg-Like Phenotype in Influenza Infected Lung Cells,” for the Blue Ribbon Award. The poster summarized her research, which used RNA sequencing to improve understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease and potential therapeutic targets in the setting of critical illness.

Funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, the TL1 training award supported Hartsell’s participation in the CCTS’s Predoctoral Clinical/Translational Research Program. The 12-month program is a mentored research experience that allows trainees to develop projects focused on reducing health disparities and/or diseases that disproportionately affect the Deep South. In addition, TL1 scholars complete the program’s core curriculum, gain experience writing a manuscript, and present their research at a national conference.

The TS24 conference focuses on translational science, “which is essentially making sure scientific innovations are actually reaching communities and helping improve patient outcomes,” Hartsell said. The most valuable aspects of the conference, she noted, were networking with fellow TL1 scholars, speed mentoring, and meeting translational scientists from across the country. 

“During speed mentoring, I was matched with four experts in the fields of genetics, bioinformatics, and drug discovery and spent an hour rotating through interviews with each mentor,” she said. “Through this experience, I gained valuable career guidance and scientific feedback while expanding my support network on a national scale.”

Justin T. Roberts, Ph.D.

A native of Huntsville, Hartsell spent the year between her second and third years of medical school working in the lab of her research mentor, Raymond Langley, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology. She credits Justin T. Roberts, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the department, as being instrumental in the project’s success. The team used the revolutionary Oxford Nanopore Technologies long-read sequencer, which is available on site in the Department of Pharmacology, to generate the RNA sequencing data for the project. 

During her research year, Hartsell also completed the Spanish for Healthcare Professionals graduate certificate that will enable her to connect with an underserved patient population. 

Hartsell is the first M.D. student from the Whiddon College of Medicine to be selected for CCTS’s Predoctoral Clinical/Translational Research Program, as two Ph.D. candidates in the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program previously received TL1 training awards. 

Established in 2008, the Center for Clinical and Translational Science has been at the forefront of innovative research aimed at reducing the burden of cardiometabolic, vascular, and cancer-related diseases that disproportionately affect our region. The CCTS Partner Network comprises 11 academic research institutions across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. 

Members of the lab group attend a tailgate before a South Alabama football game.

Hewes named associate chief medical officer for Children’s & Women’s Hospital

Amelia Hewes, M.D.

Amelia Hewes, M.D., FACOG, has been named an associate chief medical officer (CMO) for women’s health at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital. She is also an obstetrician and gynecologist at USA Health and an assistant professor at the Whiddon College of Medicine. 

“Dr. Hewes has been working on women’s quality and safety projects with the CMO team for almost a year and has demonstrated she has the vision, professional courage and working knowledge to be successful in optimizing quality and safety for the patients we serve,” said Michael Chang, M.D., FACS, USA Health CMO.  “She's an outstanding clinician and translates her clinical skills to perform improvement projects effectively. Dr. Hewes also understands the importance of culture in moving the needle for quality and safety.”   

Since joining USA Health as health system CMO in 2018, Chang has worked to assemble a team in the CMO office to provide medical directorship in the quality, safety, and operational spaces across USA Health. 

Hewes joins the CMO group at Children’s & Women’s Hospital and will focus on women's services. “I am looking forward to my continued work to enhance the quality of care we offer our patients, while also improving our own job satisfaction and wellness,” Hewes said. “I am excited to work with the CMOs in other departments to share ideas for what is working well and gain different perspectives for my own department.” 

Among her roles at USA Health and the Whiddon College of Medicine, Hewes also serves as fellowship director for Family Medicine-Obstetrics, chair of the Performance Improvement Committee, and co-chair of the Maternal Infant Committee. She is a member of the American Medical Association, American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Mobile Medical Society. 

Hewes earned her medical degree from the Whiddon College of Medicine, then completed a residency with USA Health, where she earned recognition as a top resident and researcher. In 2020, she received the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology National Faculty Award for Excellence in Resident Education. 

When she became an attending physician at USA Health, she said, her interest in safety and quality turned into a passion. Among her immediate goals for the new position, she notes, “is to work on ensuring that the women that seek care at Children's & Women's get the resources and level of care that their disease process requires, including our high-risk and complicated cases.” 

Class of 2024 donned with academic hoods at annual ceremony

Medical students in the Class of 2024 took the Hippocratic Oath during the ceremony.

Cheered on by their families, faculty and staff, the Class of 2024 received their academic hoods at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine’s Academic Hooding Ceremony, held Friday, May 3, in the Mitchell Center. 

Seventy-four medical students took the Hippocratic Oath and were hooded by people of their choosing. Those with military affiliation took the military oath of office and received their new rank. Two graduating doctoral students in the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program were awarded doctoral hoods by their major professor. 

When they were conferred their degrees at the University of South Alabama’s Spring Commencement on Saturday, May 4, the Class of 2024 became the 49th class to receive medical degrees from the Whiddon College of Medicine.

As the college closed out its 50th anniversary, USA President Jo Bonner asked the class to reflect on the history of the Medical Sciences Building, where the students received their pre-clerkship education. “Think of all the lives that have been touched, that have been changed, that have been healed, that have been saved, because of the young men and women who have entered the doors of your tired, old building,” he said. 

Bonner said he wished the Class of 2024 would have the opportunity to learn and study in the new College of Medicine building that is under construction. While the new facility isn’t scheduled to open until early 2027, he encouraged the soon-to-be physicians to come back as alumni “to be a part of what you have helped build.” 

Antwan Hogue, M.D., speaks to the Class of 2024.

The students selected Antwan Hogue, M.D., a 2012 alumnus of the Whiddon College of Medicine, to address the class. The charismatic faculty member holds several positions in the Whiddon College of Medicine and USA Health. He is an assistant professor of internal medicine, a senior hospitalist, and medical director of the Johnson Haynes Jr., M.D. Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center. He and his wife, Ashley Williams Hogue, M.D., co-founded Project Inspire, a USA Health hospital-based injury prevention program designed to curb youth gun violence.

Among his involvement with students, Hogue is a faculty advisor for Black Men in White Coats and the Student National Medical Association. At last week’s honors ceremony, the senior class bestowed upon Hogue the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award for demonstrating outstanding compassion to patients and their families. 

In February, Hogue accompanied several members of the class on a medical mission trip to Rwanda. He shared with the audience a term he learned in Africa: Nimeza. In the Kinyarwanda language, the phrase simply means, “I’m OK” or “I’m good.” 

“Nimeza seemed to be a way of life for the people of Rwanda, many of whom have endured a great deal of suffering,” Hogue said. As the volunteers made their rounds and asked patients how they were doing, their response was always the same. No matter how well or how critically ill the patients may have been, they would boldly say, “Nimeza.” 

Hogue was encouraged by their determination to seek good in every situation. “Always remember that your response and reaction is a choice,” he said, “and that it will shape your way of life and the way that you practice medicine.

“As you don your hood today, do it proudly,” he added. “Let it not only reflect your hard work, dedication and academic achievement, but it should also be a reminder of the trust that has been placed in your hands and the profound responsibility that comes with being a physician.” 

Carey Johnson addresses his classmates.

Carey Johnson, president of the Class of 2024, began his final address to the class in an unconventional way. He asked everyone in the audience to take out their cell phones. “First off, I want you to take a selfie, because man, y’all look good,” Johnson said. He demonstrated by flashing a smile while taking his own photo at the podium. 

Then he instructed the crowd to turn their phones to video mode. “I want you to press record and repeat after me: ‘You got this. I’ve made it through before. Nobody can do it like I can.’” He advised his peers, “Remember this day when things inevitably get difficult, and refer to this video when you need just a little more motivation for your day.” 

Johnson was a scholar in the Primary Care Pathway and was elected to the Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Honor Society. He was involved in numerous organizations including the Pediatrics Interest Group, Black Men in White Coats, and the Student National Medical Association. 

Soon, Johnson will begin his residency training in pediatrics at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital. “As we transition into our prospective residencies, continue to lean on each other and your support system,” he said.

Johnson said they may encounter doubters along the way. In those moments, he reminded them of a saying from one of his mentors. “When the haters ask, ‘How did you do it?’ I hope you respond like the late, great Dr. Johnson Haynes: ‘Just like you. I just did it better.’” 

Several faculty awards also were announced at the Academic Hooding Ceremony. They were:

• Best Pre-Clerkship Module: Respiratory
• Best Pre-Clerkship Educator: Abu-Bakr Al-Mehdi, M.D., Ph.D.
• Best M3 Clerkship: Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Best Clerkship Educator: Nicolette Holliday, M.D.

View more photos from the Academic Hooding Ceremony and Spring Commencement on Flickr. 

Watch video of the recorded livestream on YouTube.

Alabama Power Foundation donates $500,000 to Whiddon College of Medicine

Beth Thomas, far left, external affairs manager at Alabama Power, and Patrick Murphy, vice president of Alabama Power's Mobile division, second from right, presents a check to USA representatives to support the Whiddon College of Medicine.  

A donation from the Alabama Power Foundation to the University of South Alabama will support the new Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine education and research building, currently under construction and scheduled for completion in early 2027.

Patrick Murphy, vice president of Alabama Power’s Mobile division, and Beth Thomas, external affairs manager, recently presented a check for $500,000 to USA President Jo Bonner and John Marymont, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the Whiddon College of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs.

“Alabama Power and its foundation have been strong and steadfast supporters of our Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine and the University of South Alabama,” Bonner said. “Countless students – and through their education, generations of Alabamians – will benefit from the foundation’s gifts. We extend our heartfelt thanks and gratitude for the generous support for this new building and our programs.” 

The Alabama Power Foundation’s latest donation – which will name the dean’s suite in the medical school’s new building – brings the foundation’s total contributions to USA to more than $2.6 million.

“We are deeply grateful to the Alabama Power Foundation for their generous support of the Whiddon College of Medicine,” Marymont said. “This donation demonstrates that the foundation understands the value the medical school brings to the Mobile community and the state of Alabama. It is not only an investment in a new facility for our students, faculty and researchers; it’s also an investment in the future of healthcare to meet the needs of Alabamians.”

USA broke ground last December on a new 250,000-square-foot building that will allow the University to graduate more physicians and accelerate research and innovation. The facility will provide state-of-the-art laboratory spaces that will create flexibility and efficiency for research today and in the future. It will also allow for expanding the class size of first-year medical students from 80 to 100, with the capability of increasing to 120 students in the future, as the nation faces a projected shortage of healthcare providers.

The $200 million facility will round out a medical education hub on campus that includes the College of Nursing, the Pat Capps Covey College of Allied Health Professions, the Health Simulation Building, and the Charles M. Baugh Biomedical Library. When the new building opens, more than 500,000 square feet of campus facilities will be dedicated to healthcare education and research.

The Whiddon College of Medicine is one of 158 accredited M.D.-granting institutions in the United States, and one of only two in the state. More than 1,139 of its graduates are practicing medicine in Alabama. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Whiddon College of Medicine consistently ranks in the top tier nationally for graduates practicing in underserved areas.