Whiddon COM announces Class of 2026 Aequitas Health Medical Honor Society Fellows

The Whiddon College of Medicine has announced the selection of eight exceptional medical students from the Class of 2026 as Fellows of the Aequitas Health Medical Honor Society. These individuals have demonstrated a deep and sustained commitment to promoting optimal health for all through leadership, community engagement, research, and service throughout their medical education.

Aequitas Health is a national honor society formed in 2021 in response to a collective awareness of the deep-rooted health inequities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its mission is to recognize and support future physicians who actively work to eliminate health inequities in all forms — across clinical care, community engagement, and advocacy.

Fellows inducted into the Whiddon College of Medicine chapter exemplify these values through a record of impact and dedication to vulnerable populations in Alabama and beyond.

Class of 2026 Fellows

• Qays Aljabi
• Ben Cockrell
• Isabella Dinelli
• Mary Faragalla
• Ryan Ford
• Chandler Hinson
• Allen Perkins
• Brandon Schonour

Addressing Health Disparities Through Action

The newly inducted Fellows have made meaningful contributions to health equity through a diverse array of projects, leadership roles, and community initiatives. Their efforts include:

• Revitalizing access to vision screening services in underserved communities through the FocusFirst program, restoring local infrastructure for early diagnosis of preventable vision impairment in children.
• Leading and expanding the Student-Run Free Clinic, providing preventive screenings, chronic disease education, and integrated care coordination for unhoused and uninsured individuals, including targeted efforts in cancer detection, mental health, and audiologic assessment.
• Conducting impactful research on social determinants of health, including projects examining trauma recovery, misdiagnosis and access gaps in autoimmune disease, geographic disparities in care delivery, and culturally informed palliative care.
• Launching health promotion initiatives in rural and tribal communities, such as the development of nature trails to encourage physical activity, telehealth facilities for elders, and health education outreach for Native American youth and families.
• Advancing health literacy through structured education programs targeting diabetes, heart disease, and medication safety — empowering patients to manage chronic conditions more effectively.
• Engaging in health disparities curriculum reform and peer mentorship, ensuring inclusive learning environments for medical trainees and supporting the development of a more representative healthcare workforce.
• Participating in interprofessional service-learning via the AHEC Scholars Program, contributing over 80 hours of training and community outreach focused on Alabama’s medically underserved populations.

As one of their first official activities as Fellows, several of the newly inducted members participated in a panel discussion on servant leadership with the first-year medical students. This activity marked a meaningful moment of inter-class engagement and demonstrated the Fellows’ commitment to mentoring and modeling equity-driven leadership for the next generation of physicians.

“These students embody the mission of Aequitas Health and reflect the Whiddon College of Medicine’s values of service, leadership, and a commitment to advancing health for all,” said Ashley Williams Hogue, M.D., president of the Whiddon COM Chapter of Health Aequitas. 

“We are proud to celebrate their achievements and look forward to the continued impact they will have in their careers as equity-minded physician leaders, said Franklin Trimm, M.D., associate dean of health advancement.

USA and Vanderbilt lead national conversation on neurosurgery match criteria

Members of the neurosurgery team and contributors to the research project, from left, are Ursula Hummel, P.A.; Jai Thakur, M.D., Garrett Dyess; and Adnan Shahid, M.D.

A team of medical students and faculty from the Whiddon College of Medicine, in collaboration with Vanderbilt University, published the first-of-its-kind qualitative and survey-based study capturing neurosurgery residency program directors’ perspectives on evaluating applicant research productivity. 

The study was recently published in Cureus, a part of Springer Nature, and selected for a podium presentation at the upcoming Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting, the largest neurosurgery conference in the world, to be held in Los Angeles in October. The outcome sheds new light on how research is weighed in the increasingly competitive residency selection process. 

Neurosurgery applicants reported record-high research output in 2024, averaging 37.4 abstracts, presentations, and publications per applicant. This surge has raised concerns about an “arms race” in research productivity, particularly in the wake of the United States Medical Licensing Step 1 Exam (USMLE) transitioning to pass/fail scoring rather than identified rankings. 

“Our findings reveal that while research is an important marker of dedication and potential, program directors place greater value on high-quality, meaningful work over sheer volume,” said Garrett Dyess, a second-year medical student at the Whiddon College of Medicine and lead author of the study. “They also consider institutional access to research opportunities, offering some reassurance for students from smaller programs.” 

The study explored program directors’ views on quality versus quantity, basic science versus clinical research, and how research is weighed before and after residency interviews. Perspectives varied on whether the current competitive climate is harmful and on potential reforms, such as capping research submissions. 

“This project represents an outstanding collaboration between medical students and faculty across institutions,” said David Williams, Ph.D., MPA, assistant dean for institutional and academic success at the Whiddon College of Medicine, who led the study’s qualitative methodology. “By increasing transparency, we hope to reduce stress and help future applicants focus on meaningful contributions rather than raw numbers.” 

Key contributors to the project include Jai Thakur, M.D., chief of minimally invasive cranial and skull base neurosurgery at USA Health and director of neurosurgery education at USA; Lola Chambless, M.D., FAANS, neurosurgery residency program director and professor of neurological surgery at Vanderbilt University and chair of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Resident Committee; Williams; Adnan Shahid, M.D., former skull base fellow at USA Health and current pediatric neurosurgery fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); Danner Butler, M.D, former USA medical student and current UAB neurosurgery resident; Maxon Basset, fourth-year medical student at USA; Dyess; and Matthew Tao, second-year medical student at USA. 

The full study is published in Cureus and available online at cureus.com.