USA Health physicians, USA trustee recognized at MASA annual session

The Medical Association of the State of Alabama (MASA) recognized USA Health physicians and a University of South Alabama trustee at a special awards presentation during its annual session, held recently in Orange Beach.

Gynecologic oncologist Jennifer Young Pierce, M.D., MPH, received the Howard L. Holley Award, presented to an Alabama physician who has made a significant contribution to the understanding and appreciation of medicine through non-technical published or broadcast works. The award is named for the late author of “A History of Medicine in Alabama.”

Recognized for her work as host of The Cancering Show podcast, Pierce is a professor of interdisciplinary clinical oncology, director of the Division of Cancer Control and Prevention at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute, and director of the Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship Program.

Project Inspire, represented by its founders Antwan Hogue, M.D., and Ashley Williams Hogue, M.D., received the William Henry Sanders Award, presented to an outstanding person engaged in full-time public health work who has served above and beyond the call of duty. Created in 1966, the award honors Sanders, who served as Alabama's state health officer from 1896 to 1917.

Project Inspire is USA Health’s multi-week, hospital-based injury prevention program, which combines trauma center exposure, mentorship and career development. Hogue is a senior hospitalist, medical director of the Johnson Haynes Jr., M.D., Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, and an assistant professor of internal medicine. Williams Hogue is a trauma surgeon at University Hospital, director of the USA Center for Healthy Communities, and an assistant professor of surgery.

“Receiving the William Henry Sanders Award for our work with Project Inspire is a reminder of how important each of our role is in making safer communities and a brighter future for our children,” said Hogue, who is also an alumnus of the Whiddon College of Medicine. “It not only makes me reflect on the lives that have been lost or impacted due to gun violence but also gives me hope that our mission is not in vain as we focus on the lives we fight to protect.”

Steven P. Furr, M.D., an alumnus and trustee of the University of South Alabama and a 1981 graduate of the Whiddon College of Medicine, received the William Jeff Terry Award, presented to a physician member of MASA in recognition of a medical career that has encompassed not only high ethical and professional standards but also outstanding leadership and advocacy. The award honors the memory of Terry, a former MASA president and chairman of Alabama's American Medical Association delegation at the time of his death in 2015.

Furr is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Whiddon College of Medicine and was a recipient of the 50 People of Influence Award during the college’s 50th anniversary.