Press Releases

O’Neal Cancer Service Line names Krontiras, Kennedy directors of clinical affairs, cancer network

Written by Anna Waters

O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center senior scientists Helen Krontiras, M D , and Gregory Kennedy, M D , Ph D , will begin new leadership roles within the O’Neal Cancer Service Line, effective June 1. These two new positions will direct the service line’s clinical operations and cancer network affiliations, respectively, and will replace the role of senior medical officer, which has been held by Warner Huh, M.D., since the launch of the service line in 2018

As the new director of clinical affairs for the O’Neal Cancer Service Line, Krontiras will lead its internal, operational, quality and clinical initiatives and will oversee its cancer management teams While in this new role, Krontiras will also continue to lead the Division of Breast & Endocrine Surgery in the UAB Department of Surgery as the division’s director, as well as serve as the associate chief quality officer for Ambulatory Patient Safety & Quality at UAB Medicine.

“The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB has a long history of delivering high-quality cancer care,” Krontiras said “I am thrilled about the opportunity to build upon this foundation to enhance the experience of all patients diagnosed with cancer along every step of their journey”

Helen Krontiras, M D

Kennedy will serve as the O’Neal Cancer Service Line’s new cancer network director and will focus on its external-facing initiatives, including its partnerships with the St. Vincent’s Alliance, with Infirmary Health and with existing Cancer Network organizations, as well as on building relationships with the service line’s referring physicians across the state Kennedy also currently serves as a division director in the UAB Department of Surgery, where he leads the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery.

“I am truly honored to be granted this opportunity to serve the members of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center,” Kennedy said “Our team will provide education and research opportunities for cancer providers across the region and will strive to ensure that all patients diagnosed with cancer in Alabama are able to find treatment for their disease in our state”

O’Neal Cancer Center Director Barry Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., also oversees the O’Neal Cancer Service Line and says that, as the service line developed, it became clear that two distinct physician leadership roles were needed to support the internal and external initiatives for service line expansion The senior medical officer position search offered the opportunity to recruit candidates for both of these positions simultaneously and to quickly move forward with establishing these roles

“Weknew weneededa person dedicatedto each of these distinct and important activities,” Sleckmansaid.“The positionsof clinicalaffairs director and cancernetwork director and their associatedresponsibilitiesare key to the service line’sgrowth and its delivery of outstandingcare.”

JordanDeMoss, MSHA, vice presidentof the O’Neal Cancer Service Line, says the position of senior medicalofficer was originally createdto help bridge the gaps betweenthe more academic, research-orientedO’NealCancerCenterand the clinical, patient-facingservice line.

“We are sincerely gratefulto Dr. WarnerHuh’s leadership as senior medicalofficerover the past severalyears,”DeMoss said.“His contribution to launchingthe O’Neal CancerService Linein this role hasallowed the service line to evolveinto whatit is today.”

Huh is also a senior scientist atthe O’Neal ComprehensiveCancer Centerand the chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology in the UAB School of Medicine.

“Toserveassenior medicalofficerandbuild the O’Neal CancerService Linefrom the ground up wasa transformative and once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Huh said. “We were able to identifythe truestrengths andnecessary investments to furtherelevate ourclinicalcancerprogram. It became readily clear to us that weneededto expand physicianleadership in the areas of clinical operationsand our cancernetwork.”

Read more aboutthe O’Neal CancerService Lineand its role within the UAB Health System, the University andO’Neal CancerCenter.

https://www.uab.edu/medicine/news/latest/item/2340-o-neal-cancer-service-line-names-krontiras-kennedy-directors-of-clinical-affairs-cancer-network?tmpl=compon

GregoryKennedy, M.D., Ph.D.

Warner Huh, M.D.

Peopleof UAB

Lindeman inducted into ACS AcademyofMaster SurgeonEducators

Written by: Anna Waters

Media contact: Adam Pope

Brenessa Lindeman, M.D., assistant professor

inthe UAB Division of SurgicalOncology, isamong a group of 91 esteemed surgeons from seven countries selected into membership or associate membership inthe new American Collegeof Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators™. The academy’s first induction ceremony occurred Oct. 3 atthe John B. Murphy Memorial auditoriuminChicago.

Lindemanwas inducted asan associatemember of thisprestigious Academy.She isthe associate program director for theUAB GeneralSurgery Residency Program and the associate designated institutionalofficial fortheclinical learning environment intheUAB Office of Graduate MedicalEducation.

Lindemanis a distinguished surgicaleducator whose experience inthe fieldincludes working nationally with the AAMC as a member of the draftingpanel fortheCore EntrustableProfessional Activities for EnteringResidency,andas a member of both the

Surgery EPAs Project. She alsoservesas a module director for theAmerican Collegeof Surgeons’Advanced General Surgery Curriculumprojectandserved previouslyon the AAMC Board of Directors from 2012-2016.

“Itcomes asno surprisethat Dr. Lindeman has been selected tojointhe ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators,” said UAB Department of Surgery Chair Herbert Chen, M.D.“Her work, both inand out of the operatingroom,has benefited thelives of her patients, aswellasher co-workers and students. Brenessa’s hands-on approach to ensuring thecompetency and well-beingof medical students andresidents isexemplary of a surgical educator whoisdriven byher commitmenttoqualitypatient careand the education of current and future physicians.”

Developed under theauspices of theACS Division ofEducation, the academy recognizes surgeon educators who have devoted theircareers tosurgical education. Individualsare selected asmembers or associatemembers followingstringent peer review.Theacademy’smission isto play a leadershiprole inadvancing thescience and practice of education acrossallsurgical specialties, promoting thehighest achievements inthelifetimes of surgeons.

Health & Medicine

UAB opens new Multidisciplinary Endocrine Tumor Clinic

Written by: Anna Waters

Media contact: Adam Pope

Patients with thyroid, parathyroid, pancreas and adrenal tumors will soon have a onestop shop for endocrine neoplasia treatment. The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s new Multidisciplinary Endocrine Tumor Clinic opens

Tuesday, Oct. 1, on the third floor of The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital.

Patients who visit the clinic will have the opportunity to see a team of specialists in a single, initial consultation in order to accommodate patients and expedite their treatment plans

The Multidisciplinary Endocrine Tumor Clinic offers comprehensive and streamlined care for patients with benign or malignant tumors of the endocrine organs, such as neoplasms like thyroid cancer, hyperparathyroidism, multiple endocrine neoplasias and functional adrenal tumors

The clinic is led by co-directors Deepti Bahl, M.D , Ronadip Banerjee, M.D , Ph D , and Brenessa Lindeman, M.D., and is additionally supported by UAB Department of Surgery Chair Herbert Chen, M.D. Endocrinologists Bahl and Banerjee serve as assistant

professors inthe Department of Medicine’s Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, while endocrine surgeons LindemanandChen serve as an assistant professor and professor inthe Division of SurgicalOncology, respectively.

On November 16, leading multiple endocrineneoplasiaphysicianswillpresent thelatest medicalinformation about MEN1, MEN2A, andMEN2B at the UAB WestPavilion Conference Center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Theevent issponsored by theUAB Department of Surgery,the O’NealComprehensive Cancer Center atUAB,Children’s of Alabama and AMENSupport. Toregister, please visitthe event'sofficialwebsite.

Referring physicians and other providers should call205-934-1211 andspeak with Vernessa Williams or Kelly Lovell, CRNP, tobegin the consultationprocess.

Health & Medicine

UAB alumnus/student/employee becomes patient following brain

blood clot

Written by: Anna Waters

Media contact: Bob Shepard, bshep@uab.edu

Die-hard University of Alabama football fan

Michel Thomas would not have missed the 2016 SEC championship game — the Florida Gators against his Crimson Tide for anything. Although he had spent the days before the game

suffering from debilitating headaches and would spend the week after too nauseated to participate in final exams or project meetings with his classmates, Thomas made it to the Georgia Dome on Dec. 3, 2016, with his co-worker of 14 years, Tracy Taylor, R.N., nurse to UAB

neurosurgeon

Mark Harrigan, M.D.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Thomas attended

Michel attended the 2016 SEC Championship Game to root for the Crimson Tide.

that game with a blood clot inhis brain,andHarriganwould later bethe one to remove it.

“I willsay I was pretty miserableduring thegame,” saidThomas, a business officer inthe UAB Department of Neurosurgery.“Iremember cheeringduringthefirstquarter during a turnover and thinking my head was going to explode.”

After nearlya week of constant headaches andnausea, Thomas — a UAB alumnus and a Master of Science inHealth Informatics studentinthe UAB School ofHealth Professions — finally sought treatmentat UAB Medicine UrgentCare for what he thought were common migraines.

“That Monday, after I quitthrowing up,I remember getting into the car to goto work, realizing I didn’t have my wallet, going backinside andthen going back to thecar just to realize I stilldidn’t have my wallet,”Thomas said. “By that point,itwas day five,and I was still having theseheadaches.Attheinsistence ofmyprimary care physician, Dr. Amy Lejeune,I decided to goto urgentcare,thinking that they would just giveme a migraine cocktail so I couldgoback to work and then gohome.”

Andrew Allen, M.D., thedoctor Thomas saw aturgentcare,says hecouldtellsomething was seriously wrong themoment hewalked in.

“Michel saidhewent to anAlabama footballgame the weekendbefore,and itseems likehis clot was expanding during thatgame,” Allen said. “He was complaining of a lot of intermittent headaches and vomiting,which wasa redflag for me.Initially,theintensity and localization of those headaches made meconcerned about an aneurysm.”

Allen immediatelysent Thomas to the emergency room,where a CTscan showed not ananeurysm but a blood clot. Thatnight,Thomas wasadmitted tothe hospital under thecare of Winfield Fisher, III,M.D., a UAB neurosurgeonwithwhom Thomas worked.

Atthehospital, Thomaslearned that his most severe headaches andvomiting,as well ashis current, persisting symptoms,were due toa brain bleed anda blood clot inhis duralvenous sinuses,which drain bloodfrom the brain.Intracranial venous sinus thrombosis,as it iscalled, is a rare disorder that,inthiscase,was caused by a factor V Leiden deficiency,a hereditary hypercoagulability disorder.

“The symptoms of my condition were similarto thoseof an aneurysm; buta lot of people who have this kind of clot actually havestrokes, so I got lucky with a bleed instead,”Thomas said. “Eitherway,they’re bad; but the urgent care doctorgot meto the ER quickly.”

Angiogram images show blood vessels following thrombectomy and treatment with blood thinners.

The arrows indicate scattered blood clots present throughout the venous system, which were diminished in size and extent after treatment.Fisher initially treated Thomas’ blood clots with blood thinners, hydration and pain

medication, which Fisher hoped would dissolve the blood clot and ease Thomas’ symptoms Because Thomas was in the hospital during finals, the School of Health Professions allowed him to take one of his finals on paper rather than on a computer screen, which caused him fewer headaches. However, even after he returned to work part time at the end of December, his headaches were still severe and frequent It was then that he went back to the ER and started to consider surgery to remove the clot.

The second time Thomas was admitted to the hospital, he was met by Harrigan, who suggested a thrombectomy, a procedure in which neurosurgeons lead a plastic catheter from the femoral vein in the leg to the venous sinuses in the head and then pull the blood clot out using a mechanical aspirator.

“This technique has come on the scene in the last six or eight years as a therapy for acute stroke, but we use it for intracranial venous sinus thrombosis as well,” Harrigan said “That system has certain design features that make it very useful for Michel’s condition.”

Thomas says his experience as a Department of Neurosurgery staff member helped him navigate the ins and outs of a neurosurgical procedure but didn’t prepare him for the experience of being the one in the hospital bed

“I already knew a little bit about the process from working in the hospital and directly with neurosurgeons, but it’s different when you’re the patient,” Thomas said.

Harrigan performed Thomas’ thrombectomy on New Year’s Eve, removing much of the blood clot and alleviating some of Thomas’ symptoms.

However, after three months,Thomaswasstillsufferingfrom severe,frequent headaches and light sensitivity that were interferingwithhis life.Part of theblood clot was still present inhisvenous sinuses, andthe samepainthat had followed him since December wasmaking it difficultfor him towork or gotoschool full time.When he discussed theseongoing symptoms withHarrigan, they began toconsider another thrombectomy to remove theremainder of the bloodclot.

“Wehave to relyon his opinion,”Harrigansaid. “In the old days,weused to reserve this for people who were getting really sick, like going into a comaorthingslikethat, and in that case,theneurologicchangeismore objective.But withthe bad headaches Michel was having,it’ssubjective.Wehad to relyon him totellushow bad his headaches were.”

Finally, Thomas’ second thrombectomy,onMarch 6, 2017, removed the entire clot and relieved mostof his symptoms.

“Weused thelargestof the catheters, called an ACE68,” Harrigansaid. “It’slikea great big straw, but bigger and longer.”

Thomassays hehas feltmarkedlybetter since his secondsurgery and has resumed his work and classes full time.

UAB neurosurgeonsWinfield Fisher and MarkHarrigan.

“I never fell behind in academics, thanks to the School of Health Professions, and I’m so grateful to them for working with me through all this,” Thomas said. “My co-workers were also just really supportive when I had to stay home or leave for doctors’ appointments, and I know that would have been the case even if I weren’t being treated by the faculty members in my department.”

Eta S. Berner, Ed.D., one of Thomas’ professors in the School of Health Professions, says she was impressed by his diligence in completing his coursework while he was in and out of the hospital.

“This is a disease that seems to affect younger people more than older people. We’ve done a lot of these procedures on people in their 20s or 30s”

“Michel was very conscientious in making up the work, even though he was still sick and had to manage the regular course workload as well,” Berner said “He did very well in the course, even with all that stress.”

While Thomas’ quality of life has been drastically improved, he still sees several UAB specialists to manage his headaches and is aware that this doesn’t mean he will remain blood-clot-free.

“He’s young; but he’s still at risk for recurrence of the blood clots in his head and for developing blood clots in other veins in his body, too,” Harrigan said. “This is a disease that seems to affect younger people more than older people We’ve done a lot of these procedures on people in their 20s or 30s.”

Harrigan explained that, while treating a co-worker is a different experience for him, he’s thankful to have had the opportunity to spend more time with Thomas during his recovery, and that Thomas has returned to work

“Because Michel is a colleague and friend, I see him a lot more frequently than I see other patients,” Harrigan said. “As his neurosurgeon, it is rewarding to see Michel successfully back in his daily routine.”