Medical specialists Drs. Jon Gavras and Matthew Might will be the keynote speakers for the 16th annual Susan and Gaylon McCollough Medical Scholars Forum Feb. 9–10 in the Shelby Hall rotunda.
The forum, designed to prepare students pursuing medical and health science professions, is sponsored by Prime Therapeutics and begins with one of three keynote lectures.
Gavras, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Prime Therapeutics, will present “An Incredible Time to Be in Medicine: The Accelerating Prominence and Promise of Pharmaceutical Treatments” following the forum’s welcoming remarks, which begin at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9.
At Prime Therapeutics, Gavras is responsible for the development and implementation of all clinical programs, in addition to driving specialty pharmacy strategy and programs. He is also responsible for developing solutions that support total pharmacy cost management by addressing both pharmacy and medical benefit costs. Gavras joined Prime with more than 20 years of health care leadership experience.
He previously held numerous leadership roles with Avalon Healthcare Solutions, Florida Blue, Guidewell Health, UnitedHealth Group and Prudential Health Care.
On Feb. 10 at 9:30 a.m. Gavras will present a second keynote address, “The Pharmacy Conundrum: The Reality of Managing the Awesome Potential of Pharmaceutical Breakthroughs.”
Might, director of Hugh Kaul Personalized Medicine Institute at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will present “The Algorithm for Precision Medicine” at 11 a.m.
In addition to working as director of UAB’s Hugh Kaul Personalized Medicine Institute, Might is a medical strategist for the Executive Office of the President at the White House, a visiting associate professor at Harvard Medical School, a research affiliate for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, an adjunct professor of computer science and pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of Utah and a co-founder of Pairnomix, LLC.
As a strategist at the White House, Might has served as an adviser for the Precision Medicine Initiative, the Million Veterans Program and the All of Us Million-Person Genomics Cohort Program.
The McCollough Medical Scholars Forum was established in 2002 by UA alumni Dr. Gaylon McCollough and Susan N. McCollough to prepare students pursuing medical and health science professions for the road ahead, with a focus on the Hippocratic and humanistic purveyance of health care.
Dr. Gaylon McCollough is president of the McCollough Plastic Surgery Clinic and founder of the McCollough Institute for Appearance and Health in Gulf Shores. Susan N. McCollough is an international artist in abstract and impressionistic art, and an alumna of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Together, the McColloughs gifted the College of Arts and Sciences its largest endowment in two decades to create the Dr. E. Gaylon McCollough Institute for Pre-Medical Scholars and the Susan N. McCollough Art Biennale.
For more information about the forum, contact Marian Denham at 348-5902.