Medical Examiners’ Director to Address McCollough Scholars Forum at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Larry D. Dixon, executive director of the Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners, will be the featured speaker for the 12th annual Susan and Gaylon McCollough Medical Scholars Forum Feb. 7-8 in the Shelby Hall rotunda on The University of Alabama campus.

The forum was established by UA alumni Dr. Gaylon McCollough and Susan McCollough to prepare students pursuing medical and health science professions for the road ahead, with a focus on the Hippocratic and humanistic purveyance of healthcare.

High school students, UA pre-health professions students and past forum participants will join featured speakers and UA faculty from diverse disciplines for the event.

It begins Friday, Feb. 7 at 3:30 p.m. with registration and continues Saturday, Feb. 8 at 9 a.m. with group discussions. The forum is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Dixon will speak on “The Privilege of the Practice of Medicine” and “So You Want a Long Career?” during the forum. The event is free and open to the public.

Dixon has been the executive director of the ASBME since 1981. He held prior positions as a drug education consultant for the State of Alabama Department of Education, education director for the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, administrator for the Montgomery Family Practice Program, and director of the Jackson Hospital Foundation.

An Oklahoma native, Dixon earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Washington State University. He also studied with the National Drug Education Training Program at the University of Texas School of Medicine, the Southeastern School of Drug Studies at the University of Georgia, and attended graduate school at The University of Alabama in health, physical education and recreation.

Dixon also served as a member of both the Alabama House of Representatives and Senate, serving terms from 1978-2011.

Gaylon McCollough is an Alabaman physician, the president of the McCollough Plastic Surgery Clinic, and the founder of the McCollough Institute for Appearance and Health in Gulf Shores.

A 1965 honors graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, he served as an offensive center for the Crimson Tide football team and was named to the All-American Football Team in 1964. Since entering the medical field, he has obtained recognition as a surgeon and teacher through his affiliation with the largest association of specialty plastic surgeons in the world.

Susan McCollough of Gulf Shores is an artist and alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Alabama. As an artist, she has studied with Max Hellman at The Birmingham Museum of Art and Barbara Moon at The Little House on Linden in Birmingham. She has also studied at the Delgado Museum of New Orleans, now the New Orleans Museum of Art, and in Pensacola, Fla.; Boston, Mass.; and at the University of California, Los Angeles.

She has produced more than 500 paintings, many of which were commissioned, and has exhibited in more than 10 solo exhibitions in Alabama and Florida. Her works are held in collections in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, New York, California and New Jersey.

For more than 10 years she has served on the art committee at the United States Sports Academy, which attracts and honors artists from around the world and is responsible for selecting featured artists for the Olympics. She has owned Studio Three in Florida, and her works can now been seen at her new gallery, the Susan N. McCollough Gallery and Studio in Gulf Shores.

For more information on the forum, contact Marian Denham, health professions advisor, in the College of Arts and Sciences at 205/348-6812.

UA’s College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.