UAB Synopsis, Vol. 24, No. 30, August 8, 2005
William E. Dismukes, MD, was named Department of Medicine interim chair, effective August 1. As part of his plans, he intends to maintain the department largely on the same course former departmental Chair William J. Koopman, MD, followed over the past 10 years.
Dr. Dismukes is professor of medicine and of microbiology at the School of Medicine at UAB. In addition, he serves as Department of Medicine vice chair, Division of Infectious Diseases director, and, from 1982 to 2002, was UAB's Internal Medicine Residency Training Program director. Gustavo Heudebert, MD, currently holds the endowed professorship named for him, the William E. Dismukes Endowed Professorship.
Educated at the Medical College of Alabama (now UAB) and Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Dr. Dismukes has received honors and awards throughout his 35 years in academic medicine. He was named a Master teacher and a Laureate awardee by the American College of Physicians and, in 2001, was recipient of the Aventis Pharmaceutical Lectureship from the American Society for Microbiology for sustained fungal chemotherapy accomplishments. He also received the 2005 Maxwell Finland Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America. For the past 29 years, Dr. Dismukes has served as principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Mycoses Study Group, a multisite consortium of investigators focusing on the natural history, prevention, and treatment of systemic mycoses.
Dr. Koopman stepped down as chair in August to rejoin the faculty and pursue research interests.