Desktop News | February 2023
Industry professionals from around the country will address students at the annual Susan N. and Gaylon McCollough Medical Scholars Forum Feb. 10 at Shelby Hall.
The forum, designed to prepare students pursuing medical and health science professions, will begin with a lecture by Dr. Jeffery Bishop, a social and moral philosopher and physician, who teaches medical ethics and philosophy. Professor Bishop holds the Tenet Endowed Chair in Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University and is a faculty member of the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics. Bishop also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy and is a member of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. His most recent book, Biopolitics After Neuroscience: Morality and the Economy of Virtue, critiques contemporary neuroscientific claims about individual morality and notions of good and evil.
Following his remarks, attendees will hear from Dr. Anya Plutynski, a historian and philosopher of biology and medicine. Her most recent book is Explaining Cancer: Finding Order in Disorder (2018, OUP). She has also written on the history and philosophy of evolutionary biology and genetics, the role of modeling in science, and scientific explanation. A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology (co-edited with Sahotra Sarkar) (2007, Wiley), is a collection of concise overviews of philosophical issues raised by all areas of biology. Plutynski’s other research interests include biomedical research ethics, particularly issues surrounding precision oncology, cancer genomics, and risk communication.
Finally, attendees will hear from Joseph Zasa, a co-founder and managing partner of ASD Management. His focus has been on structuring, developing and managing the firm’s surgery centers, and day-to-day operations. Zasa is the primary author of Developing and Managing Surgery Centers, the landmark book on ASC management, now on its third edition. Additionally, he is a faculty member at The University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Health Sciences MHA program, where he teaches Ambulatory Surgery Development and Management. Previously, Zasa was the corporate counsel for Premier Ambulatory Systems. He received his Juris Doctorate from Washington and Lee University Law School and has been honored with election to the Law School Council.
The McCollough Medical Scholars Forum was established by UA alumni Susan N. McCollough and Dr. Gaylon McCollough to prepare students pursuing medical and health science professions for the road ahead, with a focus on the Hippocratic and humanistic purveyance of health care. Dr. Gaylon McCollough is president of the McCollough Plastic Surgery Clinic and founder of the McCollough Institute for Appearance and Health in Gulf Shores. Susan N. McCollough is an international artist in abstract and impressionistic art and an alumna of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.
For more information about the forum, contact Ashley Wilder-Morrison at ashley.wilder-morrison@ua.edu.