45 / 60
FALL 2017 / 41
University of South Alabama Mitchell
Cancer Institute in Mobile, working
on cancer prevention and control
strategies. She holds a master’s degree
in public health and a Ph.D. from
UAB and completed her postdoctoral
training at the Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health.
Raj Patel
of Vestavia Hills opened
up a new dermatology practice over
the past year, True Dermatology,
which serves Clanton and Alabaster.
In addition to doing routine skin
exams, Patel performs a special
surgery called “Moh’s Micrographic
Surgery” to remove skin cancers
and provide a 99 percent cure rate
as well as reconstructive surgery. He
graduated from the UAB School of
Medicine.
’08
Rev. Dr. Dedric Cowser
received a
doctorate of ministry in May from
the Candler School of Theology
at Emory University. He is senior
pastor of New Beginnings United
Methodist Church in Birmingham
and serves as conference secretary
for the North Alabama Conference
of the UMC.
Samantha Masdon Davis
has been
promoted to manager of regulatory
affairs and strategic development
with Viva Health in Birmingham.
Patrick Scott
, assistant organist-
choirmaster at the Episcopal
Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta,
was named to The Diapason
magazine’s list of 20 leaders and
organists under the age of 30.
Scott has recently performed in
Charleston as part of the Piccolo
Spoleto Festival, in Houston at
the American Guild of Organists
National Convention, and at St.
Paul’s Cathedral in London; he
was invited for a residency with
the choirs of both Salisbury and
Durham Cathedrals in England.
’09
Whitney Williams
is development
director at the Birmingham
Education Foundation in
Birmingham.
’11
Rev. Ani
Missirian-
Wilson
, a
graduate
of the
Vanderbilt
University
Divinity School, is the lead pastor
at First United Methodist Church in
Modesto, Calif. She was ordained
an elder in June by the California-
Nevada Conference of the United
Methodist Church (see Weddings).
John May eld Jr.
is attending
Western Michigan University’s MBA
program while working at Box On
Demand. He also serves as a captain
in the Michigan Army National
Guard.
Avani Patel
and her mother, Rupa
Patel, are co-owners of Avani Rupa
Fine Jewelers in Mountain Brook.
She resides in Homewood with her
husband, Milind.
Dr. Amy Schumacher
started
working for the Centers for Disease
Control in Madison, Wis., this
summer as an epidemic intelligence
service of cer. She earned a master’s
in biostatistics from the University
of Iowa in 2013 and graduated
with a Ph.D. in community and
behavioral health with a health
communication sub-track in May.
’12
After graduating from Georgia
State University with a master’s in
actuarial science,
Brittany Sterling
Soto
is now a nancial analyst with
ADP in Norfolk, Va.
’13
William Justice
landed two
principal acting roles after signing
on with TDH Unlimited, a talent
agency in Georgia. He played Justin
Timberlake on “National Enquirer
Investigates: Britney Spears,” which
aired on the Reelz cable channel
this spring. Justice also played
Of cer Swanson on the crime
webseries T.R.A.D.E. He continues
to audition for roles while teaching
piano at Mason Music and the
Homewood School of Music.
Elizabeth Hagale
won awards
for Best Action/Adventure Short
Screenplay at the 2016 Nashville
Film Festival and Best Short
Screenplay at the 2016 Orlando
Film Festival. Her script
Welcome
Back!
is about a woman who is
killed so her husband can become
a superhero again, but she returns
from the dead to turn the trope on
its head. Hagale works as a social
media manager at an advertising
agency in Athens, Ala.
’14
Artist
Melissa McIntyre Litton
is working out of her downtown
Birmingham studio space, 21st
Street Studios. She also joined
the Ground Floor Contemporary
Gallery as an artist member. Her
husband,
David Litton ’12
, is a
solutions architect at Ad Victoriam
Solutions, a cloud solutions
provider in Atlanta.
Lance Mengel
has served as
a mortgage
loan of cer
for South
State Bank in
Charleston,
S.C., for the
past two
years. When not at work, he is an
active participant in the V Cancer
Foundation; he plays in the Edward
Mengel Memorial Jimmy V Golf
Tournament, started by his father,
every year. Mengel also volunteers
with the Charleston Youth
Development Center.
’16
Post-folk singing duo
Nick Bierman
and
Wes Chambers
, known as
The Caged Birds, have produced
their debut album
Henry
, a 10-song
cycle that traces the activities and
adventures of a young man growing
up in a one-parent home in the
Deep South.
FRIENDS
The Mountain Brook Chamber of
Commerce awarded former BSC
trustee and fundraising co-chair
Hatton Smith
with the 2016
Jemison Award for signi cant
contributions to the community.
Smith is CEO emeritus of Royal
Cup Coffee. Smith was also named
United Way of Central Alabama
Outstanding Civic Leader by
the Association of Fundraising
Professionals during last year’s
National Philanthropy Day event.