The summary below highlights key concerns reported in the Modern Think and IDEA Surveys and select actions taken in response. Read the full message for a more comprehensive review.

Earlier this year, an IDEA Performance Survey was conducted to gather feedback on my performance as dean. In addition, UAB partnered with Modern Think on a Campus Engagement Survey to hear directly from faculty and staff about their workplace experiences and the university’s operations. Both surveys provided significant insight into what is going well and where there are opportunities to improve.

Thank you to the nearly 2,000 faculty and staff in the Heersink School of Medicine who shared their perspectives in the Campus Engagement Survey. Most respondents expressed a positive outlook on their experience at UAB and an appreciation of qualities like collaboration and collegiality, values that are especially celebrated within our school.

This is UAB’s fourth campus engagement survey, with the last one occurring in 2023. Overall, we saw improvement across multiple dimensions at the university level as well as within the Heersink School of Medicine. It is encouraging to see that changes implemented based on prior surveys have had positive impact.

We recognize that the Campus Engagement Survey was conducted in February, prior to significant national and institutional changes that affected research and other areas. Nonetheless, your feedback is invaluable in helping us understand what is working well, where we need to improve, and how best to respond.

Here, I’d like to share updates on key areas that Heersink faculty and staff identified as particularly meaningful in their survey responses and actions taken to address those concerns.

Compensation, Benefits, and Career Advancement

We heard that you value UAB’s mission, collaborative culture, flexibility, and strong benefits package. At the same time, compensation and opportunities for advancement continue to be areas of concern, especially for staff. You also asked for clearer performance management and continued recognition of your contributions.

While salaries are market-competitive for academic medical centers, we recognize many of you face financial pressures, and we are committed to rewarding employees whenever possible. However, we are mindful of the complexities of the current economic landscape and, while UAB has postponed a final decision on merit raises until October/November 2025, to go into effect in January 2026 if implemented, we have sought other ways to reward our employees. Along with recent enhancements to parental leave and sick time, the university is offering additional paid holiday time as part of its ongoing commitment to employee engagement and satisfaction.

For clinical faculty, our departments develop compensation plans utilizing core principles and specialty-specific salary and productivity benchmarks. These are developed through department compensation committees, with faculty participation, and are reviewed and approved by our faculty practice plan. Departments review these plans annually.

We have a funds flow steering committee, which includes executive and physician leaders, that monitors and reviews the fluctuations between clinical faculty compensation and available market surveys. Since its redesign in fiscal year 2023, we have added an additional $40 million into funds flow for clinical compensation through fiscal year 2025.

Recognizing outstanding job performance and promoting work-life balance are priorities. Recently, UAB Medicine launched Applause, a platform that makes it easy to recognize the everyday efforts and achievements of colleagues. Programs like the Dean’s Excellence Awards for Faculty and Staff were created to celebrate your work. In-state remote, hybrid, and flexible schedules remain options where possible, and we heard that this remains important to you. UAB’s childcare facility expansion, which opened in 2024, is another step in supporting families.

We continue to expand career pathways through job categories and administrative roles that align with organizational needs, and faculty report strong clarity regarding promotion processes. We launched the Academic Clinician Track (ACT) promotion track for clinicians whose primary focus is patient care but who do not hold a compensated, full- or part-time, regular appointment at UAB. We’ve also enhanced our performance evaluation system to make it more user-friendly and transparent, and we are training supervisors to provide timely and constructive feedback.

Facilities and Parking

Over the past several years, we have made significant progress in transforming many of our buildings. Renovations in McCallum, Volker Hall, and Shelby Building created brighter, safer, and more collaborative environments. The new Altec Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences building opened earlier this year, and the Biomedical Research and Psychology Building is currently under construction. Both buildings emphasize active, open workspaces for greater collaboration and interaction. Moreover, these updates save the institution nearly $1 million annually in energy costs.

To address spaces that have not been modernized, the Heersink School of Medicine is working closely with central administration on a long-term plan to tackle deferred maintenance. Priorities are already in motion, including renovations at Volker Hall and elevator upgrades in Zeigler Research Building this year, with additional work planned for Tinsley Harrison Tower and other facilities. Last year’s $16 million investment in deferred maintenance across campus is helping to accelerate these efforts.

By using space more strategically, we’ve been able to support significant employee growth without expanding our physical footprint. This reflects our commitment to being good stewards of resources while continually improving the environments where our people learn, work, and collaborate.

Important parking improvements are underway. In June 2024, UAB’s first new parking deck in over 20 years opened at 14th Street South and Seventh Avenue, adding more than 1,150 new parking spaces to campus. A comprehensive operations study was completed in 2024 to assess current conditions and identify opportunities for the future. Hybrid work has allowed UAB to increase the number of permits issued without adding new lots, providing greater access while keeping parking costs below market value. This fall, a transportation advisory committee will be established to provide input and ensure that the Heersink School of Medicine community has a voice in shaping solutions.

Administrative Efficiency and Resources

Changes to the federal funding landscape—including staffing shortages and new policy directions—have introduced challenges beyond the immediate control of Heersink School of Medicine leadership. Despite this, all of us in the school’s leadership team remain deeply committed to supporting faculty and staff in their research and professional growth in these uncertain times.

To this end, we committed to an accelerated review of UAB’s research operations and infrastructure that builds on reports from Huron Consulting Group and Urban Impact Advisors, which formed the basis for the university's Research Strategic Initiative (RSI), launched in 2023. To complement this initiative, the Heersink School of Medicine conducted its own review with Huron in summer 2024. Using insights from these activities, the UAB Office of Research is currently installing the myUABResearch suite electronic research administration (eRA) system to improve the efficiency of research administration. Implementation will result in a single tool that replaces multiple fragmented platforms, including IRAP, Bioware, and the Oracle Conflict of Interest form.

Enhancing our effectiveness in securing clinical trials is another critical step in diversifying UAB’s research funding stream, a key goal of RSI. The establishment of the Academic Research Organization for Clinical Trials (ARO-CT) represents a significant overhaul of the administrative support structure for clinical trials. Developed as a hub-and-spoke model connecting a central coordinating office with researchers across campus, this approach promotes shared standards, reduces duplication, and ensures that trials are activated and managed with greater speed and consistency. A key step in the development of the ARO-CT occurred in January 2025, when David Kimberlin, M.D., became associate vice president for Clinical Trials, a newly established leadership role in the UAB Office of Research.

The appointments of Dana Rizk, M.D., as associate dean for Clinical Trials and Cynthia Joiner, Ph.D., MPH, R.N., as assistant dean for Clinical Research Operations provide dedicated leadership in the Heersink School of Medicine to drive efficiency in clinical trials and ensure that researchers and their teams have the support they need to succeed. Drs. Rizk and Joiner are working closely with partners like UAB St. Vincent’s and Cooper Green Mercy Health to expand research opportunities across our growing network.

Ensuring that clinical trials administration is coordinated, strategic, and positioned for long-term success is prioritized at the highest level as a presidential initiative, with strong support from the Dean’s Office and the UAB Health System. Our efforts have already yielded results: The backlog for reviewing and approving IRB submissions has been eliminated, and the time to activation for industry-sponsored clinical trial agreements has been cut nearly in half, from 140 days to 75 days, with efforts underway to reduce that number even more.

Additionally, UAB opted to include the EPIC research module in the rollout of the EPIC electronic health record platform. This decision will fully integrate research into the upcoming EPIC transition, transforming how studies are conducted and how patients and providers engage with research.

Engagement, Communication, and Transparency

Faculty and staff made it clear in both the Modern Think and IDEA Performance Surveys that leadership transparency and engagement are top priorities. I have closely reviewed the comments submitted in the IDEA survey and am committed to incorporating that feedback into my decision-making.

I plan to act on this feedback by strengthening communication around leadership decisions and planning. In addition to sharing my thoughts and plans in the monthly Dean’s Message emails, we have hosted four Heersink Office of Research Town Halls since May to address the impact of federal policy and funding actions on our research enterprise. We will continue to hold these town halls to ensure timely updates as the research funding landscape continues to evolve. We are also working to provide greater clarity on the roles and responsibilities of key leadership positions within the Dean’s Office.

I meet frequently with department chairs and have emphasized the responsibility of leaders to share information consistently with their teams. My goal is to ensure that communication flows clearly and reliably, with department leaders serving as strong connectors between the Dean’s Office and their departments. For example, department-specific insights from both surveys were shared with our chairs. All departments were asked to share these results with their faculty and staff and develop action plans to address survey feedback. I also hold quarterly meetings with our center and institute directors, as well as Heersink faculty senate and council members.

Finally, I am working to create more opportunities for direct engagement with faculty and staff outside of formal leadership roles. I aim to attend a faculty meeting in each of our 27 departments every year and have attended 17 department meetings as of September 5, 2025. In addition, to be as accessible as possible, I have begun walking through a different Heersink building every few months with the express purpose of visiting with faculty and staff. So far this year, I’ve visited the Wallace Tumor Institute, Altec-Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building, Lyons-Harrison Faculty Office Tower, and Boshell Diabetes Building. Beginning in January 2026, I will initiate a quarterly lunch meeting with new faculty who have been at UAB for less than four years. These informal walk-throughs and small-group gatherings will allow more faculty and staff to share their experiences, feedback, and insights directly with me.

Looking Ahead

With the next campus engagement survey planned for 2027, we will continue to address the priorities our community has raised and measure our progress. To that end, we have added a form to the school’s website that enables you to share feedback to school leadership at any time throughout the year. My leadership team and I remain committed to leading with transparency and a people-centered approach. These principles matter deeply to me because they matter to you. At Heersink, the pursuit of excellence in our mission will continue to guide us, and we will move forward together with a shared commitment to trust, progress, and service.