Catching Up with Benjamin Smood

August 20, 2018 // Randy Glick

Benjamin Smood, 2017 Society of 1924 Scholarship Recipient

Benjamin Smood is a 4th year medical student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with career goals of becoming a congenital heart surgeon and remaining in academia. This September he will be applying to integrated cardiothoracic surgery residency programs.

Benjamin hopes to remain committed to translational and outcomes research, and has an interest in mechanical circulatory support as a bridge to transplant. In fact, the Southern Medical Associations 1924 Medical Student Scholarship helped to fund part of his research, and provided him the opportunity to present his results at a national conference. He first found his passion in the field of congenital heart surgery as a 7th grade science teacher with Teach for America, when he saw first-hand how early intervention in otherwise deadly conditions could allow children to grow up leading near-normal lives.

Benjamin remains committed to legislative advocacy, having served as the Chair of the Southeastern region of the American Medical Association, and the Chair of Alabama's Medical Association student sections. He hopes that his leadership in these positions will help provide him and his peers a foundation on which they can enact true change in medicine to improve the lives of their patients.

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