As the official journal of the Birmingham, Alabama-based Southern Medical Association (SMA), the Southern Medical Journal (SMJ) has for more than 100 years provided the latest clinical information in areas that affect patients' daily lives. Now delivered to individuals exclusively online, the SMJ has a multidisciplinary focus that covers a broad range of topics relevant to physicians and other healthcare specialists in all relevant aspects of the profession, including medicine and medical specialties, surgery and surgery specialties; child and maternal health; mental health; emergency and disaster medicine; public health and environmental medicine; bioethics and medical education; and quality health care, patient safety, and best practices. Each month, articles span the spectrum of medical topics, providing timely, up-to-the-minute information for both primary care physicians and specialists. Contributors include leaders in the healthcare field from across the country and around the world. The SMJ enables physicians to provide the best possible care to patients in this age of rapidly changing modern medicine.

As an accredited provider of CME by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and in accordance with the ACCME’s Standards for Commercial Support, Southern Medical Association requires that all individuals in a position to affect the content of a CME activity disclose to the learners relevant financial relationships with commercial interests. Further, any relationship determined to be a conflict of interest will be resolved prior to the activity. For Journal CME articles, author disclosures are published in the footer section of each article. The editor, editorial staff, reviewers and planners for Journal CME articles have no relevant financial relationships to disclose and no conflicts of interest to be resolved.

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief
Steven T. Baldwin, MD,  Pediatric Emergency Medicine 
Retired, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's Hospital of Alabama
Birmingham, AL

Associate Editor
Mary Ann Burton, MD, PhD
Infectious Diseases

University of Mississippi School of Medicine
Jackson, MS

Editorial Office
Jennifer Price, MA, Managing Editor
Southern Medical Association
3500 Blue Lake Drive, Suite 360
Birmingham, Alabama 35243
Phone: (205) 421-4185
Email: jprice@sma.org

Publisher
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Celia Braithwait, Publisher
Edna Riedesel, Production Editor
Robert O’Malley, Marketing Manager

Publisher
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Celia Braithwait, Publisher
Angela Arnold, Production Editor
Robert O’Malley, Marketing Manager

SMA Officers, 2023-2024
President
Christopher Jackson, MD
Memphis, TN

President-Elect
Loretta Loftus, MD
Tampa, FL

Immediate Past President
Lawrence Carter, MD
Hickory, NC

Executive Director
Randall E. Glick, BSB/PM, MCP
Birmingham, AL

Editorial Board
Ines Anchondo, PhD, RD, LD, CSP, MPH
Public Health & Nutrition

John Birk, MD
Internal Medicine & Gastroenterology
University of Connecticut
Farmington, CT

Lawrence Frisch, MD, MPH
Population Health

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute
Vancouver, Canada

James H. Holmes, IV, MD
Surgery

Wake Forest Burn Center
Winston-Salem, NC

Rosalyn Stewart, MBA, MD, MS
Internal Medicine & Primary Care Medicine

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD

Michael A. Thomas, MD
Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
University of Cincinnati School of Medicine
Cincinnati, OH

Wendy Wilcoxson, DO, MBA, FACEP 
Emergency & Disaster Medicine

James Wooten, PharmD
Pharmacology
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Kansas City, MO

International Editorial Board Members
Florian Bruns, MD
Medical Ethics
Charite Center for Humanities and Health Sciences
Berlin, Germany

Andrew Elder, MBChB, FRCP
Geriatric Medicine

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland

Paul Froom, MD, MOccH
Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
Sackler School of Medicine
Tel Aviv, Israel

Pablo Guisado-Vasco, PhD, MD
Internal Medicine

Complejo Hospitalario Ruber Juan Bravo
Madrid, Spain

Olivia Kreze, MD, PhD, FRCPath
Hematology

Newham University Hospital
London, England

Edmund Leung, MBChB, MRCSEd, DM, FRCS, FEBS
Surgical Oncology, Gastroenterology, &
Critical Care/Emergency Medicine

Warwick Hospital,
Warwick, United Kingdom

Rowan Parks, MD, FRCS
General Surgery
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland

Ramin Parsa-Parsi, MD
Hematology-Oncology
International Affairs German Medical Association
Berlin, Germany

Each member of the Southern Medical Journal Editorial Board, if not a current member of the Southern Medical Association, is supplied with a complimentary SMA membership for the term of his or her Board service. Association membership includes a complimentary subscription to the Southern Medical Journal. There is no other compensation

Publishing & Editorial Staff

Publisher
Celia Braithwait
celia.braithwait@wolterskluwer.com

Production Editor
Edna Riedesel
Edna.Riedesel@wolterskluwer.com

Reprints Representative (U.S.)
Kelle Ramsay
Phone: 410-528-4121
kelle.ramsay@wolterskluwer.com

Reprints Representative (Europe)
George Killeen
Phone: +44 0203-197-6579
george.killeen@wolterskluwer.com

Permissions
Permission to reuse material in another publication or presentation, please email: permissions@lww.com.

Translation, Rights & Licensing
For Translation approval or License to republish and distribute, please email one of the following:
TranslationRights@wolterskluwer.com
HealthLicensing@wolterskluwer.com

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LWW Business Offices 
Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-521-8300
www.lww.com

Editor-in-Chief
Steven T. Baldwin, MD,  Retired, Pediatric Emergency Medicine 
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's Hospital of Alabama
Birmingham, AL

Managing Editor
Jennifer Price, MA
jprice@sma.org

Author/Submission Questions
smj@sma.org

Association Headquarters
Southern Medical Association
3500 Blue Lake Drive
Suite 360
Birmingham, Alabama 35243
Phone: 800-423-4992 or 205-945-1840

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by the authors and advertisers are their own and not necessarily those of the Southern Medical Association, the Publisher, the Editor, or the Editorial Staff. The Association, the Publisher, the Editor, and the Editorial Staff are not responsible for the authenticity of the opinions or statements made by the authors in communications submitted to the Journal for publication. The author or communicant shall be held entirely responsible. The Association, the Publisher, the Editor, and the Editorial Staff do not guarantee, warrant, or endorse any product, service, or claim made or advertised in this publication.

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