The past month saw the culmination of years of planning and construction with the official openings of the Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building (ALGEN) and the Volker Hall Atrium. Both projects exemplify the power of partnership, collaboration, and innovation.
The October 23 ribbon-cutting and grand opening of the Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building was a transformative moment not just for our school and university but also for the city of Birmingham and beyond. For the first time, the building brings under one roof the leadership offices of the Heersink School of Medicine, the UAB Health System, and the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation (HSF) physician practice plan.
I am excited to work so near UAB Health System CEO Dawn Bulgarella and HSF President Cheri Canon, M.D. This kind of physical proximity will promote the already strong cooperation and alignment among UAB Medicine’s joint leadership. In addition, it will reinforce our shared mission as an academic medical center to strengthen health and healthcare through outstanding patient care, innovative medical training, and cutting-edge biomedical research.
ALGEN also brings together the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science, the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Live HealthSmart Alabama, the Comprehensive Healthy Living Research Center, the Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation, the Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health, and faculty from a host of other disciplines. As such, the building serves as a hive for interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together top scientists, clinicians, and innovators to tackle today’s most urgent health challenges. It will also strengthen UAB’s role—and Alabama’s—at the forefront of research, innovation, and economic growth by fostering connections that drive discovery and real-world impact.
The building is also home to the Marnix E. Heersink Conference Center, which is available for reservation by all UAB, UAB Medicine, and UAB Health System units, as well as UAB affiliates. The state-of-the-art conference center includes the first-floor lobby area, three meeting rooms, a catering kitchen, a rooftop terrace, and adjoining Kracke Plaza green space.
On November 5, Heersink leaders, alumni, donors, students, and supporters gathered to celebrate the opening of the new Volker Hall Atrium. Volker Hall has long been the central hub of our undergraduate medical education enterprise, and the atrium opening caps years of renovations that have modernized and upgraded student learning and relaxation spaces, meeting and study areas, administrative offices, and more throughout the building.
Made possible by a gift from the Heersink Family Foundation, the atrium features sleek, modern architecture, multistory windows that allow in abundant natural light, a living green wall, a variety of seating options, a beautiful new chandelier, and the Morning Grounds coffee bar. Importantly, it offers the first street-level entrance to Volker Hall off University Boulevard in recent history.
Together, the openings of the Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building and the Volker Hall Atrium represent more than the completion of two remarkable construction projects—they mark a new chapter in our school’s history. These spaces embody our shared commitment to collaboration, discovery, education, and community. They are places where ideas will spark, partnerships will flourish, and physicians, scientists, and trainees will be inspired to shape the future of medicine. I am deeply grateful to everyone whose vision, generosity, and hard work helped bring these projects to life, and I look forward to all we will accomplish within these walls in the years to come.