UAB Synopsis, Vol. 25, No. 32, December 11, 2006
Marlon L. Priest, MD, has assumed the position of Chief Medical Officer at Bon Secours Health System in Marriottsville, Maryland. During his 25 years at UAB, Dr. Priest most recently served as a professor of emergency medicine and surgery, UAB Hospital senior associate chief of staff and chief quality officer, and medical director for the nationally acclaimed Critical Care Transport.
UAB colleagues, friends, and Birmingham community leaders paid tribute to Dr. Priest’s two-and-half decades of service at a November event held at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. UAB Hospital Chief of Staff Cynthia G. Brumfield, MD, opened the program and noted that Dr. Priest became known as an outstanding emergency medicine physician as he rose through the ranks at UAB, and that his latest work as chief quality officer highlighted another great interest — patient advocacy.
UAB Hospital Chief Operating Officer Michael R. Waldrum, MD, said Dr. Priest brought passion, energy, and persistence to clinical care and a broad perspective on health care to his administrative role. Dr. Waldrum also offered his congratulations to the Bon Secours Health System, where Dr. Priest serves as the institution’s first physician-executive.
Other speakers included Janyce M. Sanford, MD, interim chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine; nurse manager Mike Moran, BSN, MSN; Senior Associate Chief of Staff Arthur M. Boudreaux, MD; and Edward Davis, a representative from the office of Mayor Bernard Kincaid, who presented Dr. Priest with an official proclamation of thanks on behalf of Birmingham’s citizens.
The UAB Hospital Chief of Staff Office and Hospital Administration also presented Dr. Priest with a portrait of himself surrounded by a collage of Synopsis articles highlighting his 25 years of accomplishments at UAB by artist William “Lowe” Long. Guests wrote their farewell wishes on the portrait’s matting.
Dr. Priest said, “I hope my work has in some way improved the communities I was given the privilege to serve.” Dr. Priest thanked his colleagues and friends and said he would put all his lessons learned to good use in his next venture.
Dr. Priest was assistant vice president for health affairs at UAB in the 1990s, a scholar in academic administration and health policy with the Association of Academic Health Centers, and a Pew fellow in Executive Development with the Association of American Medical Colleges. He was project director for the high school partnership program, Health Professions Partnership Initiative, and a principal investigator and project director for the Minority Medical Education Program, an initiative focused on increasing access to care through expanding academic preparation for college students from disadvantaged backgrounds seeking careers in the health professions.