13 healthcare professionals were recently inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame.

The 2024 inductees include:

• Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, the first African-American president of the Medical Association of Alabama and the nation’s 18th U.S. Surgeon General.

• Joan Bergman, PT, PhD established the first hospital-based physical therapy at the Crippled Children’s Clinic and Hospital and founded a physical therapy education program at UAB.

• Sumpter D.  Blackmon, MD practiced medicine in Alabama’s Black Belt region and was a key figure in sustaining John Paul Jones Hospital in Camden.

• Kenneth Brewington, MD served as vice president of medical affairs and later president of Mobile Infirmary.

• The late Elsie Jean Cowsert, MD practiced internal medicine at Providence Hospital in Mobile and worked to desegregate hospital facilities in Mobile.

• Joy Deupree, PhD, MSN, CRNP co-founded the Nurse Practitioner Alliance of Alabama.

• Will Ferniany, PhD, MSHA, who retired in 2022 as CEO of UAB Health System.

• Marnix E. Heersink, MD established numerous healthcare organizations in Dothan, and whose $100 million to the University of Alabama resulted in the naming of UAB’s Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine.

• The late Joseph Henry Johnson, MD established the Alabama School for the Blind and the School for the Deaf.

• Max Michael III, MD served as the dean of UAB’s School of Public Health for 16 years, longer than anyone else to date.

• Elizabeth Barker Morris, BSN, RN served as the executive director of the Alabama State Nurses Association and was instrumental in establishing the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame.

• Kent G. Palcanis, DDS, MSD was UAB’s associate dean of academic affairs where he restructured the dental school curriculum.

• David R. Thrasher, MD, whose work to educate the public about COIV-19 was honored by Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Legislature.