News at USA Health

Nick Sellers, vice president for the Mobile Division of Alabama Power Company, and his wife Julie are the chairs for this year’s USA Health Night Honoring Heroes. It honors first responders, physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals who provide lifesaving healthcare to patients throughout the Gulf Coast.

Mary B. “Mimi” Munn, M.D., has been appointed professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine and will start in September. In addition to her administrative leadership for the department, Munn, who is a maternal-fetal medicine physician, will provide specialty care for women with high-risk pregnancies at USA Health.

Silas Leavesley, Ph.D., professor of chemical and bimolecular engineering at the University of South Alabama, and Thomas Rich, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at the USA College of Medicine, recently received the 2019 USA Center for Lung Biology Murray Bander Faculty Development Award. The award – which is given to one or two investigators each year— seeks to foster innovative discoveries in pulmonary research and promote faculty development.

Blount has served as manager of the division of clinical trials at USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute since 2016. Over the past three years, she has strengthened infrastructure and processes at MCI, helped to develop a Phase 1 clinical trials program and established an infusion unit at MCI dedicated to clinical trials.

Amelia Hewes, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine and an obstetrician-gynecologist with USA Health, offers the following tips for parents of daughters preparing for their first visit to the gynecologist.

Sarcoma is a rare cancerous tumor that occurs in connective tissues - fat, nerve, muscle, bone – impacting anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 patients a year in the United States, which is just 1% of all cancers reported annually. The rare nature of these tumors underscores the need for unique expertise and experience for successful treatment.

Currently serving as assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine and a gastroenterologist at the USA Health Digestive Health Center, Sonnier said he is excited to join USA Health.

Jennifer Russell’s career path to USA Health all started with a question about her favorite football team.

USA Health University Hospital again welcomed teenagers from the local community to participate in Project Inspire, a mentorship program designed to build relationships and encourage young people in the Mobile community.

Osama Abdul-Rahim, M.D., assistant professor of radiology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine and an interventional radiologist with USA Health, presented the July Med School Café lecture.

Patrick Patten, M.D. has been appointed assistant professor of radiology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. Patten, an interventional radiologist, will practice at both USA Health University Hospital and USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital.

Jiamin Teng, M.D., Ph.D., came to the United States in 2000 with a dream to advance scientific developments in the field of pathology.