Rena C. Patel, M.D., MPH, MPhil, has been named associate director for Global Health Research for the UAB Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health (MHIGH), effective May 1. In this role, Patel, who also serves as an associate professor in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases, will leverage her considerable experience with leading large-scale research programs and collaborations to advance the priorities of the UAB Heersink School of Medicine and MHIGH.
Patel is a physician-scientist who conducts mixed methods research using both qualitative and quantitative tools in , reproductive health, and accessible health care in the U.S., Kenya, South Africa, and Botswana. She serves as the assistant director of the UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center, where she continues examining social determinants of health at the intersections of the HIV and COVID-19 epidemics and leading community engagement in big data efforts.
Before joining UAB, she was an assistant professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, where she completed her infectious diseases training, and at the University of Washington. Patel completed her medical school and residency at Stanford University, received her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health, and her MPhil in Sociology from the University of Cambridge. She has also worked in India, Tanzania, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.
“The UAB Heersink School of Medicine has a longstanding commitment to advancing global health including the health of our local population,” says Alan T. N. Tita, M.D., Ph.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology and senior associate dean for Global and Women’s Health at Heersink. “MHIGH fosters this goal through global collaborations, including research and reciprocal learning, and innovation focused on shared priorities.”
Specifically, Patel will sustain and grow research initiatives to enable school personnel to work with key collaborating centers to understand and reduce gaps in global health access through research and capacity building.
“Now more than ever, we need to think harder about fostering equitable global health partnerships,” said Patel. “There are likely many more unexplored opportunities to partner with various entities in low- and middle-income countries that can create positive change for health. I look forward to working with the MHIGH team and our partners and collaborators for global health research at UAB to reach new heights.”
We are immensely grateful to Dr. Lynn Matthews for her invaluable service in this role since 2021 and for her numerous contributions to the growth of MHIGH and global health research.