Retirement Reception Honors Patricia Couling

The University of South Alabama Department of Microbiology and Immunology hosted a retirement reception in honor of Patricia Couling on May 27, 2015, at the USA Faculty Club.

Couling, who served as management operations specialist in the department of microbiology and immunology, was recognized for 23 years of outstanding service.

Click here to view more photos from the reception.

USA Welcomes Dr. Angus McBryde

Dr. Angus McBryde has been named professor and interim chair of the department of orthopaedic surgery at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.

This appointment marks the second time Dr. McBryde has led the USA Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He served as professor and chair at USA from 1991-1996.

“We are very pleased to have Dr. McBryde return to the USA College of Medicine. Dr. McBryde will help stabilize the department following the untimely, unexpected death of Dr. Fred Meyer late last year,” said Dr. Samuel Strada, dean of the USA College of Medicine. “Dr. McBryde’s extensive career in orthopaedics, involvement in residency training, and knowledge of orthopaedic specialty physicians both locally and nationally will be of immense help to the administration as we begin the search for a permanent chair to lead the department over the next several years."

Prior to returning to USA from the University of South Carolina (USC) where he was professor from 2011-2014, Dr. McBryde served as director of the American Sports Medicine Institute Ankle and Foot Fellowship at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala. He practiced at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center with subspecialty care delivered to competitive athletes.

Dr. McBryde received his undergraduate degree at Davidson College and earned his medical degree from Duke Medical School. From there he had a general surgery internship and junior residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. McBryde then served two years in the U.S. Navy, including a year in Vietnam as well as a year at the Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego. He completed his orthopaedic residency at Duke Medical Center in 1971.

Dr. McBryde served as team physician at the National Sports Festival in Baton Rouge, La., in 1983; the World Games in Yugoslavia in 1987; the Summer Olympic Games in Korea in 1988; and the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

From 1996 to 2000, Dr. McBryde served as professor and chair of the department of orthopaedic surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C. He then moved to the USC School of Medicine in Columbia S.C. to join the faculty as professor in the department of orthopaedic surgery and director of USC Sports Medicine from 2000 to 2005.

Dr. McBryde is a member of several medical and orthopaedic organizations including the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS); the Governing Council of the Senior Physicians Section of the American Medical Association and liaison to AAOS since 2014; and the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society. He is past president of the Southern Medical Association; past chairman of the North Carolina Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Health; past president of the Southern Orthopaedic Association; and on the board of directors for the American Sports Medicine Institute from 2005-2016. He was Alabama Sports Person of the Year in 2010, Distinguished Southern Orthopaedist in 2013 and received the Duke Medical School Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2014.

USA Pediatrics Patients Visit Washington D.C.

Pictured from left - Colby Sawyer, patient; Tammy Gale, pediatric hematology/oncology clinical nurse at the University of South Alabama Children's & Women's Hospital; Michael Ables, patient; and Nigeria Watson, patient; pose for a photo at Mobile Regional Airport May 1, 2015. The group traveled to Washington D.C. for a Sunshine Kids Foundation trip.

Last month, three young oncology patients from the pediatrics department at University of South Alabama Physicians Group got the trip of a lifetime thanks to the Sunshine Kids Foundation and Tammy Gale, a clinical nurse for the division of pediatric hematology and oncology at USA. The kids, along with 22 others from across the country, visited Washington D.C. for one week.

“We couldn’t do this for them if it wasn’t for the help of the nurses, like Tammy, who volunteer to go on the trip,” said Brooks Tomb, director of regional offices for the Sunshine Kids Foundation. “With their help, the trips allow the kids to bond with each other away from the hospital, and that really helps their state of mind. They get to be with other kids that they can relate to because they are all in the same situation.”

Gale said this was her first time working with the Sunshine Kids Foundation. “I was excited to take the children to experience something new they have never seen before and give them that freedom,” Gale said. “This trip was a way for the kids to escape from reality and not have to think about things like their chemo treatments. Instead, they got to go somewhere new and make new friends.”

While in Washington D.C., the kids visited the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Vet Memorial, the International Spy Museum, the National Archives and the Smithsonian. They also spent a day at Kings Dominion Theme Park in Virginia and cruised the Potomac River.

The main activity of the trip was their visit to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters in Quantico, Va. The kids became DEA agents for the day by participating in activities such as playing interactive shooting video games and working one-on-one with an agent. The DEA agents also took the group to a shooting range.

The Sunshine Kids Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by Rhoda Tomasco in 1982, provides many programs, national and regional events for children with cancer. These activities are free of charge to the children’s families and hospitals. To learn more, visit www.sunshinekids.org.

First-Year Medical Student Accepted into Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Summer Pipeline Program

Olivia Means, a first-year medical student at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, recently was accepted into the Memorial Sloan Kettering 2015 Summer Pipeline Program. This program is a highly competitive medical student summer fellowship program at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

For eight weeks, Means will conduct clinical research, shadow in the clinic and operating room, and attend weekly departmental meetings.

"We encourage our students to apply to summer research programs such as the one at Memorial Sloan Kettering to provide exposure to other institutions and research programs. This is an outstanding opportunity for Olivia,” said Dr. Susan LeDoux, associate dean of medical education and student affairs at the USA College of Medicine.

Means will be working with Dr. Bernard Park, the deputy chief of clinical affairs of the thoracic surgery service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, on a project titled “Anatomic Resection for Peripheral Pulmonary Typical Carcinoid Tumors: Is it Mandated in All Cases?”

“I am really excited about the program because I will get a closer look at cancer research and the field of surgery,” Means said.

The program will give Means exposure to experiences and various types of cancer and patient treatment approaches. She begins her project in June.