UAB Heersink School of Medicine aims to serve the state of Alabama and surrounding region through forward-thinking and patient-centered physician training of its medical students. For years, this mission has been accomplished through effective curriculum and a passion for serving rural and underserved areas throughout the state. Heersink School of Medicine’s regional campuses provide sites across the state that extend the school’s reach and embed its vision and values into the communities they serve. Each regional campus employs a student services director who stands in a critical intersection of administrative mission and student success. Lanita Carter, Ph.D., Dale Dickinson, Ph.D., and Britney Sellers, MPH, who have a combined 30+ years in their roles, provide crucial services to Heersink students in their path to become future physicians.
The four campuses of UAB Heersink School of Medicine serve varying critical functions for the curriculum and clinical experiences of its medical students. The first two years of medical education are completed by all students on the main campus in Birmingham. The final two years of education are completed across all four campuses, with students assigned to the regional campus they will attend prior to matriculation. The Huntsville and Montgomery campuses exist completely within the financial and organizational structure of Heersink School of Medicine. The Tuscaloosa campus, which serves as the base for the Primary Care track, operates through a partnership between the UA College of Community Health Sciences (CCHS) and the Heersink School of Medicine. Tuscaloosa also serves as the base for the Rural Medical Scholars Program while Huntsville runs the Rural Medical Program on its campus.
Lanita Carter, Ph.D., director of Medical Education and Student Services, has been with the Huntsville regional campus for 22 years. She came to UAB after an academic career in Canada as a professor and administrator in a business school. Originally from Alabama, she saw the role in the Heersink School of Medicine as an opportunity to return home and continue her passion of supporting and equipping students with tools for successful careers and lives.
Dale Dickinson, Ph.D., director of Medical Student Affairs, serves on the Tuscaloosa regional campus. He has been in his current roll 6 years, although his experience with UAB traces back to 1999 when he began as a post-doctoral fellow for the School of Public Health. From 2005 to 2019, he served a variety of functions for the School of Public Health, including leading public health research, serving as a faculty instructor, and assisting the development of an undergraduate major in public health. He saw the role in Heersink School of Medicine as a chance to build strong connections with students, which is what he always enjoyed about teaching.
Britney Sellers, director of Medical Education and Student Services, has been with the Montgomery regional campus for nearly 4 years in her current role. She completed graduate school at UAB in the School of Public Health, which created a strong connection to the institution. She has served in Heersink School of Medicine for a total of 10 years, beginning as an office associate working as a clerkship coordinator before moving up to the manager level and eventually her current role as director.
On their respective campuses, the directors lead their offices in impacting the student experience from almost every angle. They work directly with students in scheduling, progressing through clinical years, and with career planning. On the administrative side, they work with clerkship directors and coordinators to build an effective learning experience and help with curriculum development. They also provide spaces for students to share critical feedback on clerkships and learning environment through routine dean’s conference meetings. This accessible facetime with department and school leadership fosters community and student engagement in the process of refining their education.
“It’s an important part of the Huntsville campus,” said Carter, regarding the impact of these meetings. “It’s a regular part of the rhythm of what we do. We can always catch students at the dean’s conference. We see them, they see us, and they see each other.”
Another crucial function of this role is connecting students with appropriate resources. This is particularly important on the Tuscaloosa campus where students are dual enrolled at the University of Alabama. “Our students here are open to lists of opportunities,” said Dickinson, “such as access to UA libraries and campus resources. The dual enrollment can provide challenges with student registration, so I’m here to help navigate UA’s policies and support for UAB as well.”
Although medical students do not relocate to their assigned campuses until after their second year, the directors and regional campus staff waste no time in building powerful early connections with them. As early as the week of New Student Orientation, representatives from regional campuses lead lunch and learns with new students, acquainting them with programs and with student affairs staff. Opportunities for further connection are enhanced through immersion camps and campus visits later in the first year. The aim is for the students to feel familiar with the campus and communities where they will live during their clinical years and to feel seen and supported by leadership.
A consistent reward for the directors is seeing students fulfill their commitments and dreams. Match Day is a moment for the directors to see not only the fruits of the students’ hard work but also the fruit of their own personal and professional investment in those students. “It's so fun to watch them grow, sometimes stumble, change their mind, figure out what they really want to do for their career, and ultimately get that spot they've always dreamed of,” Sellers said. “I'm a bit of a mother hen so it's very fulfilling for me to know I've had an impact on that journey.”
Their leadership does not end with medical students, as the regional campuses are also home to residency programs. Residency tracks provide another touchstone for medical training within the regional campus communities. These programs see many medical students return for residency training, further enhancing the connection they have not only with school leadership but also with the populations they serve. Another rewarding aspect to the regional campus director roles is seeing the lasting impact of the culture they help create. Seeing students return as residents and eventual UAB faculty on their campuses serves as a reminder of the connections and opportunities they help build as early as the first year of medical school. This strong sense of community and the bonds shared in those spaces echo the commitment that Carter, Dickinson, and Sellers have to their campuses.