Media Contact:
Bob Shepard
(205) 934-8934
E-mail: bshep@uab.edu

Posted on February 8, 2006 at 2:25 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The UAB School of Medicine’s 2006 Student Art Show added a new wrinkle in its sixth year...entries from faculty. Ten faculty entries were received, which were judged in a separate category from student entries.

The art show is presented by the Alabama chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha, the national honor society for medical school students, and the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences. It runs from February 10 to May 5 in the museum on the third floor of the Lister Hill Library, 1700 University Boulevard. An awards ceremony and reception will be held at the museum from 3-5 p.m. on Friday, February 10.

The show drew 52 entries, which were judged by a panel of UAB faculty, staff and students. The top three winners will receive cash prizes, and all entries will be on display in the museum.

“It is important to balance medical students’ scientific and medical education with exposure to the arts and humanities,” said Stephen R. Smith, Ph.D., director of student life for the medical school and a contest judge. “The physicians we train here must be able to interact on many different levels with their patients, and this art show provides another means for them to creatively explore and express their own humanity. We think this will help them to connect with all people on a basic human level.”

The winning student entry is an untitled clay pottery mug by third-year medical student Sylvia Yoo. Second place is an untitled black and white photograph by Emily Cannon, a second-year student. Third place went to “Longing”, a graphite on paper drawing by fourth-year student Eric Yarbrough.

The faculty winner was Michael Klein, M.D., professor of pathology, with a photomicrography entitled “Wolff’s Law in 3-D.” Second place was awarded to Maurice Albin, M.D., professor of anesthesiology, and office associate Kamara Savage, for “A Threnody of Pain,” a collage and poem. “The Castle 2004,” a pencil drawing by Brendan McGuire, M.D., associate professor of gastroenterology, took third place.

First place in the written word category was awarded to “An Odd Hour,” a short story by James S. Hagood, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics. Second place went to a submission of poetry and photographs by Alex J. Szalai, Ph.D., associate professor of immunology/rheumatology, entitled “Without Bad Things.”

Also receiving recognition as Juror’s Choice awards were an untitled pastel and pencil drawing, also by Emily Cannon; a photography entry called “The Digital Revolution in Malawi,” by Melanie Venable, a first-year student; and an untitled paint on cardboard by first-year student Nicole Loo.

In addition to Smith, the art submissions were judged by Brett Levine, director of the UAB Visual Arts Gallery; Stefanie Rookis, curator of the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences; Stacy Tintocalis, MFA, assistant professor of English; and Eric Wallace, a fourth-year student and vice president of Alpha Omega Alpha.