Founder and CEO of IntegraNet to Address McCollough Forum

From the January 2016 Desktop News | Larry Wedekind, founder and CEO of IntegraNet Health Systems, will be the keynote speaker for the 14th annual Susan and Gaylon McCollough Medical Scholars Forum on Friday, Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. in the Shelby Hall rotunda on The University of Alabama campus.

The lecture and discussion will be followed by dinner with UA students at 5:45 p.m. in the Shelby Hall rotunda.

The McCollough Medical Scholars 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.

The forum begins Friday, Jan. 29 at 3:30 p.m. with registration and continues Saturday, Jan. 30 at 9 a.m. with group discussions. The forum is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Wedekind will present two talks, “What Future Physicians Need to Know about Navigating the Managed Care Minefield” and “How Integrated Care Coordination Networks Will Affect Doctors in the Future,” during the forum.

Wedekind formed and developed IntegraNet Physician Resources, Inc., also known as IntegraNet, in 1997. It is one of the Houston area’s largest independent physician associations, representing approximately 1,200 primary care and specialty physicians.

He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Florida, and he is continually involved in national health policy discussions, including the writing of healthcare policy-related white papers.

Wedekind was the regional director of six hospitals in the Southeast for American Healthcare Management and served as administrator of several hospitals for Hospital Corporation of America and Republic Health Corporation. He has developed outpatient imaging and cardiology centers, and he developed two sports medicine rehabilitation centers in the Dallas, Texas, area.

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. In 2015, the United States Sports Academy bestowed the Theodore Roosevelt Meritorious Achievement Award on Dr. McCollough. He is also recognized by his peers as one of the “Best Doctors in America” and one of “America’s Top Plastic Surgeons.”

Susan N. McCollough, an international artist in abstract and impressionistic art, has produced more than 600 paintings, many of which were commissioned, and has exhibited in more than 15 solo exhibitions in Alabama and Florida. Her works are held in collections in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and California. She has received awards in Venice, Rome, Lecce, and Florence, Italy. She has also exhibited in the Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy, in 2015. Susan has exhibitions in Marrakech, Morocco; Berlin, Germany; Innsbruck, Austria; Tokyo, Japan; and at The ArtExpo New York in 2016.

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 now served as Artist Emeritus for three years. Her works can be seen at her gallery, The Susan N. McCollough Gallery/Studio in Gulf Shores.

Susan is an artist and alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Alabama. Susan was commissioned by College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Olin to do a painting honoring Al Sella, her longtime professor and mentor. She chose to paint an impressionistic portrait of him which now hangs in perpetuity in Clark Hall.

In 2013, the “Susan and Gaylon McCollough/A-Club Career and Leadership Center” was created in the Bill Battle Academic Center to assist UA athletes in preparing for life after sports.

For more information about the forum, contact Marian Denham, director of health professions advising in the College of Arts and Sciences, at 205/348-5902.

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 Truman Scholarships.