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Officers

Dana V. Rizk, MD

President

University of Alabama at Birmingham
Division of Nephrology

ZRB 614
1720 2nd Ave S
Birmingham, AL 35294

Phone: 205-934-9509
drizk@uabmc.edu

Term of office: 2025

About Dr. Rizk

Dr. Dana Rizk is currently Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology and Associate Dean for Clinical Trials at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She completed her residency, chief residency and fellowship at Emory University Hospital and later joined the UAB faculty as Assistant Professor in 2008.

Dr. Rizk's exposure to clinical research started during her fellowship and she fell in love with this career path. However, beyond the science, clinical research opened her eyes to patients, families and volunteers' dedication and commitment to the advancement of science. Her current clinical and research interests revolve around glomerular diseases and, in particular IgA Nephropathy (IgAN). She is the principal investigator of several clinical trials and is part of several federally funded multi-disciplinary translational research projects focused on the pathogenesis of IgAN and the role of biomarkers.

About five years ago, Dr. Rizk was appointed Director of Clinical Trials Research in the Division of Nephrology. She set out to re-organize the infrastructure and teamwork behind the clinical trials in her division. Her goal was to have clinical trials accessible to patients. She also wanted to streamline the submission and budget negotiation process to make it more efficient and successful. In doing so, she hoped to engage junior investigators and trainees and build future ambassadors in clinical research.

In 2020, she was appointed Medical Director of the Clinical Trials Administrative Office which is part of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS). She was tasked to work with investigators on campus to grow the clinical trials portfolio. She is also in charge of the Clinical Investigator Training Program meant to introduce junior faculty and research fellows to clinical research and inform them of the role and responsibilities of a principal investigator. The course also raises their awareness of the many resources available to them on campus.

On the education side, Dr. Rizk is involved in residents and fellows' training. She serves on the clinical competency committees of both programs. She has mentored many trainees in clinical research. She is the proud recipient of numerous teaching awards.

In 2013, Dr. Rizk was elected member of the Southern Society of Clinical Investigation. She has served as council member of the Southern American Federation of Medical Research (SAFMR) since 2017 and as president of SAFMR (2018) she helped organize the Southern Regional Meeting in New Orleans.

Victor Thannickal, MD

President-elect

Tulane University Health Sciences Center
Professor & Harry B. Greenberg Chair
Department of Medicine

1430 Tulane Avenue, #8512
New Orleans, LA 70112

Phone: 504-988-7800
vthannickal@tulane.edu

Term of office: 2026

Leslie Gewin, MD

Secretary-Treasurer

Washington University School of Medicine
660 South Euclid Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63110

Phone: 314-747-1304
gewin@wustl.edu

Term of office: 2023-2026

About Dr. Gewin

Leslie Gewin, MD, is a physician-scientist in the Division of Nephrology at Washington University in St. Louis and a Staff Physician at the St. Louis VA. Her research interest focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying chronic kidney disease progression. She runs a basic science lab funded by both the NIH and the VA that studies how renal tubular epithelia respond to injury and how these responses promote repair or fibrosis. Dr. Gewin is particularly interested in the role of growth factors and altered metabolism in modulating these epithelial responses. She also has a chronic kidney disease clinic and attends on the nephrology consult service at the St. Louis VA. Dr. Gewin is passionate about teaching and supporting the next generation of physician-scientists. She previously served as Co-director of the Kidney Student Research Training Program, which places medical students in a lab for a mentored research experience during the summer between first and second years. To advocate for the careers of women investigators, Dr. Gewin has been involved as a Councilor on Women in Nephrology, an international group that provides mentorship and professional development to both men and women in nephrology. Dr. Gewin is also a fellow and current Councilor of Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (SSCI) and served as a judge for the SSCI's Nephrology Young Investigators' Forum 2019-2021.

S. Calvin Thigpen, MD

Past President

University of Mississippi Medical Center
UMMC Cancer Institute

350 West Woodrow Wilson Drive
Jackson, MS 39213

Phone: 601-984-5590
Fax: 601-984-5599
sthigpen@umc.edu

Term of office: 2024

About Dr. Thigpen

Dr. Calvin Thigpen completed his medical degree, internal medicine residency, chief residency, and hematology-oncology fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson, Mississippi. He is now a Professor of Medicine and is the Internal Medicine Residency Program Director and Vice-Chair for Education of the Department of Medicine at UMMC. He currently practices and teaches both inpatient and outpatient general internal medicine and engages in medical education research focused on the link between growth vs fixed mindsets and objective educational outcomes.

Dr. Thigpen has been a member of the SSCI since January 2013 and a Councilor from 2019-2023. He is the current Chair of the Membership Committee and guided the development of the SSCI's Early Career Council in 2021 to stimulate membership, collaboration, and networking among the society's early career investigators and educators. Dr. Thigpen has chaired the Career Advancement for the Clinician Educator workshops at the Southern Regional Meetings (SRM) since 2019, and he was recognized as the SSCI's Mentor of the Year in the Post-Graduate Category at SRM 2022.

Dr. Thigpen's career interests are the education, mentorship, and career development of internal medicine and subspecialty trainees and junior faculty.

Joan Kemp

Executive Director

Southern Society for Clinical Investigation
6359 Tribute Lane
Dora, AL 35062

Phone: 205-648-8429
Cell: 205-566-6090
jkemp5@tulane.edu

About Ms. Kemp

Ms. Kemp serves as Executive Director of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation and has done so since 1991. In October of 2017, she retired from the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center after serving as the Director of Operations and Assistant to the Director since 1969.

When she is not working for the SSCI or the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, she enjoys spending time with her family and her horses.

Pamala Schmidt

Administrative Director

Southern Society for Clinical Investigation
1430 Tulane Ave #8451
New Orleans, LA 70112

Phone: 504-988-6886
Fax: 504-988-1779
ssci@tulane.edu
pschmidt@tulane.edu

About Ms. Schmidt

Ms. Schmidt serves as Administrative Director of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. In addition to her role at the SSCI, she is also the Assistant Director of the Center for Continuing Education at Tulane University.