Student presentations at the UAB Summer Symposium!

Jaida Bazemore, a summer RAMP-UP program participant from Tuskegee College, presented her study “Racial Disparities in Barriers to Healthcare by Older Patients with Pancreatic Neoplasms” at the UAB summer symposium 2024 under the mentorship or Dr. Andrea Gillis.

Research in Aging through Mentorship and Practice – Undergraduate Program (RAMP-UP) is a comprehensive program providing mentored research experiences and education in aging and health disparities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds in MSTEM fields. It combines hands-on research, additional training, and structured career guidance to prepare participants for graduate studies and careers in the research workforce.

Find out more about RAMP-UP here.


Oakwood University student, Peris Murangiri, presented her study “Investigation of the use of Amphetamines Among Colorectal Cancer Patients in the Deep South of the US” at the UAB Summer Symposium 2024.

Dr. Frye presenting at IAES

Endocrine surgery fellow Dr. Corbin Frye presented his paper “A Natural Language Processing-Informed Adrenal Gland Incidentaloma Clinic Improves Guideline-Based Care” at the 2024 International Association of Endocrine Surgeons Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Dr. Gillis at the ESSP Symposium

Dr. Andrea Gillis attended and presented her work at NCI Early-Stage Surgeon Scientist Program Fall Symposium.

The NCI Early-Stage Surgeon Scientist Program (ESSP) is a unique initiative to train and support early-career surgeon scientists in cancer research. This program provides three years of funding, fostering collaboration among cohorts across the U.S. to advance cancer-related basic and translational research.

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Zhixing Song awarded at the ATA Annual Meeting 2024

Zhixing Song, M.D., received the Outstanding Trainee Poster Award for his abstract, “Diagnostic Value of Molecular Testing for Evaluating Thyroid Nodules Greater Than 4 Centimeters” at the American Thyroid Association Annual Meeting 2024 held in Chicago, IL.

In his study, Song analyzed patient data from UAB, revealing that while molecular testing is frequently employed to diminish unnecessary thyroid surgeries, a negative result might not definitively exclude malignancy in larger nodules. His research underscores physicians’ need to exercise caution when interpreting molecular test results for these cases.

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Fellows #1-6 reunited at ASC 2023 (and photobombers mom and dad Dr Chen/Lindeman)

Our group had a strong showing at the 2023 Academic Surgical Congress in Houston TX! In addition to presenting our research and learning from other leaders in academic surgery, we love this meeting for getting to have a reunion with our former graduates! Fellows #1-6 were able to reunite and catch up at the UAB social at the Buffalo Bayou Brewing company (with photobombers Drs. Chen and Lindeman aka the fellows endocrine surgery “mom” and “dad”). 

UAB Endocrine around Bham – Harry Potter and Hamilton 

The Endocrine Surgery Research group practiced “work life integration” and spent some time enjoying activities around Birmingham! Drs. Andrea Gillis, Jessica McMullin, and Polina Zmijewski took the prize at Harry Potter Trivia at local bookstore Little Professor and our group had a great night out together going to the Hamilton musical! 

New York Fellow Exchange 

Our Endocrine Surgery Fellow Dr. Jessica McMullin recently participated in a fellow exchange in New York City. She spent time visiting Columbia working with Drs. Jennifer Kuo and James Lee, as well as visiting NYU working with Drs. Kepal Patel and Insoo Suh.

While in the big apple, Dr. Herb Chen and his family also joined for some delicious meals between UAB and the Columbia and NYU groups. Thanks to Columbia and NYU for hosting our fellow and we look forward to welcoming Dr. Lina Hu in April to visit us at UAB! 

Dr Feibi Zheng at UAB as the AAES Visiting Professor

We were thrilled to welcome Dr. Feibi Zheng from Baylor as our AAES Visiting Professor on Nov 15 2022. She gave a fantastic grand rounds presentation on “Quantifying Value in Surgery” and we appreciated getting one on one time with her and the residents/fellows/faculty to chat all things endocrine surgery and cost effectiveness in surgery. We also enjoyed a delicious dinner with her at Helen!