Alan Dimick Honored for Excellence in Medicine

    MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL, April 01, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Alan Dimick has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Since 1963, Dr. Alan Dimick has established himself as a prominent and influential surgeon whose passionate advocacy and innovation in the realm of burn care has pushed science, launched programs, and saved countless lives.

Dr. Dimick, whose father and grandfather were involved in the local steel business in Birmingham, Alabama, became aware of burn injuries at an early age. He witnessed many workers in the foundry sustain burns on the job, being around iron that melted at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and wanted to learn more about that from a medical standpoint and how to help those who suffered like this. He always had an ambition to become a doctor; his aunt was a pediatrician in Houston, Texas, and his father, Daniel Baker Dimick, was an undergraduate at MIT and accepted into medical school when Dr. Dimick's grandfather urged him to come back home and take over the family iron steel business after he dies. He would have been a physician, but with it being the early 1900's, he did exactly what his father told him to do. Dr. Dimick, however, was determined to pursue his dream.

He attended Birmingham-Southern College out of high school, where he received a Bachelor of Science in 1953. Soon after, he pursued and earned a Doctor of Medicine from the Medical College of Alabama, now the University of Alabama School of Medicine, in 1958, during which time he also served as an intern at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospitals. Dr. Dimick served a residency there as well, from 1959 to 1963. Weighing his options among family medicine, internal medicine, and surgery, it was while in his medical internship that he decided to stick with the latter as his main focus.

His career began in 1963 as an associate professor of surgery at the University of Alabama, where he would remain in various positions up until 1999. He served as professor of surgery from 1970 to 1999; the director of the burn center at University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospitals from 1986 to 1989; and was Assistant Chief of Staff at the hospital from 1993 to 1996. Since 1967, he has served as chairman of the advisory committee of the Emergency Medical Service in Birmingham, and from 1972 to 1987, he was chairman of its advisory board. Within his first decade in the field, he founded the University of Alabama at Birmingham Burn Unit, and served as its director until 1997. The UAB Burn Unit is a "nationally recognized leader in the treatment of burn-related injuries" with state-of-the-art service whose groundbreaking research is greatly advancing the future of burn care rehabilitation.

Dr. Dimick considers the highlight of his career came when he was in charge of the emergency department and burn center. There was a 20-year-old man who, on a bet, climbed a high-tension wire and, upon touching the dangerous spark plug cables at an elevated point, fell 30 feet, broke his back, and received extensive burns. The ambulance driver on the scene detailed how he dragged the victim by his heels for nearly 50 yards, leading to complaints about the improper treatment of somebody in that sort of condition. The complaint made its way to the mayor, and eventually to the university, and Dr. Dimick himself. As a result, in 1973, he got involved with the hospital care of patients and became medical director of a federal grant to provide emergency medical training to what would become the first crew of paramedics in Alabama, made up of 33 firefighters from the fire departments of Birmingham, Homewood, and Vestavia Hills.

Dr. Dimick remains very much involved in the field, despite an official retirement from the university in 1999. He has been on the committee of Emergency Medical Services for the American Medical Association since 1974 and is a contributor of countless articles to professional medical journals. The Alan R. Dimick Burn Care Fund was established to support the work of the UAB Burn Unit. He served as president of the North American Burn Society in 1978 and then from 1984 to 1985, and has been a member of the Surgical Infection Society, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the American College of Surgeons, the Southern Surgeon Association, the Wound Healing Society, the Jefferson County medical Society, and many other groups.

In recognition of his numerous impressive achievement, Dr. Dimick has received accolades commemorating his accomplishments. He was honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Alabama Medical Alumni Association in 1995, the Mankind Service Award from the Birmingham Sertoma Club in 1981, and the Samuel Buford Word Award from the Medical Association of the State of Alabama in 1978. He was also bestowed the Public Health Service Award for outstanding contributions toward the establishment and improvement of Emergency Medical Services systems nationwide in 1978.

Dr. Alan Dimick has had a successful, prolific career and he leaves behind a legacy of accomplishment, inspiration, and great impact on the world.

About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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