On Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, students from Heersink School of Medicine gathered to celebrate faculty, courses, and course directors at the annual Argus Awards Ceremony.

Desalyn Johnson, fourth year Heersink student, has received the Jefferson Underwood Minority Scholarship Award. The Medical Association of the State of Alabama (MASA) presented Johnson with her award at their Oct. 19 meeting in Montgomery.

After a national search, Justin Turner, M.D., Ph.D., has been named chair of the Department of Otolaryngology in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, effective May 31, 2024. In this role, Turner will support the growth of the department; identify future opportunities and needs; and provide strategic leadership for all aspects of the department, including representing the department within the UAB enterprise, creating collaboration opportunities, and building bridges across the institution.

Anupam Agarwal, M.D., dean of the Heersink School of Medicine, welcomed 13 esteemed faculty members, their families, and Heersink School of Medicine leaders to the Wallace Tumor Institute on Nov. 14 to honor the new endowed chairs and professorships for their contributions to modern medicine and medical education.

As part of Heersink School of Medicine’s commitment to providing an excellent experience for its medical students, renovations have been completed on the 4th and 5th floors of Volker Hall on the Birmingham Campus. The construction on these floors, which began earlier this summer, installed two relaxation spaces, including individual and group seating, tables, and a full kitchen.

On Nov. 15, 2023, UAB’s Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Medical Education, and Medical Alumni Association hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Heersink Family Active Learning Center. The brand-new center in Volker Hall represents a milestone in UAB’s cutting-edge medical education curriculum. The construction of this space was made possible by a generous donation from the Heersink Family Foundation.

Department of Medicine Facilities Coordinator Corey Cates, M.S., was six years old when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. For doctors to uncover Cates’ diagnosis, it took a two-and-a-half-hour drive as well as a one-week stay at the Children's Medical Center in Dallas, TX in 1996.

The inaugural UAB Global Health Symposium was held September 28-29, bringing together a diverse group of health care workers from around the world to discuss equity in global health.

Coming together in joy and unity with the Heersink School of Medicine Office for Diversity and Inclusion, Asian Pacific Medical Student Association, UAB Medicine, and Asian American Pacific Islander Faculty Association on Nov. 15 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. for friendship, food, and dancing is just one way you can celebrate Diwali this year. Check out five other ways you can celebrate this joyful time.

The Heersink School of Medicine Office for Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) partnered with its Black/African American Faculty Association to host a social mixer on Thursday, Oct. 26, in the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts.

Ryan Outman has been appointed executive officer for Finance and Administration for the Heersink School of Medicine effective December 1, 2023. He will report to Jason Daniel, senior executive officer for Finance and Administration and vice president, University of Alabama Health Services Foundation.

On Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, Heersink School of Medicine and UAB Health System leaders, faculty, staff, and supporters gathered in the new Heersink Active Learning Center at Volker Hall for the unveiling of the official portrait of former Senior Vice President for Medicine and Dean Selwyn Vickers, M.D., FACS.

Jodie Dionne, M.D., associate director of Global Health in the UAB Center for Women’s Reproductive Health and associate professor in the Department of Medicine, is working on a new R01 funded by NIH/NIAID focused on helping pregnant mothers keep their unborn babies safe from syphilis.

My name is Jada Williams, and I am a junior majoring in public health with minors in art studio and chemistry. This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to be an intern with the Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. This six-week program works in collaboration with the UAB Heersink School of Medicine and reshaped my ambitions in ways I could have never imagined.

UAB’s annual open enrollment for benefits began Oct. 20. Eligible employees can choose among dental, vision, and health insurance plans, plus voluntary life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance and tax-deferred spending accounts for health and dependent care for 2024.

The UAB Department of Surgery hosted its annual Family Day this month at the McWane Science Center.

UAB Department of Surgery Administrative & Communications Director Marissa Cabrera Keppley has been elected to the Association of Academic Surgical Administrators (AASA) Board of Directors.

Michael Patton, an M.D.-Ph.D. student at the Heersink School of Medicine, received the 2023 New England Journal of Medicine scholarship for the Symposium on Artificial Intelligence for Learning Health Systems (SAIL) and gave a Spotlight Talk at the conference.

Jason Noah, who began working in Medical Student Services (MSS) in 2013, reflects on how he has seen the department grow substantially in that time. In his goal to foster connections between student and Medical Education leadership, he sees himself as one small part of a larger mission to develop student leaders and commit to their lifelong success.

The UAB Office of Patient Experience and Engagement, in conjunction with UAB Medicine executive leadership, has honored eleven UAB Sports and Exercise Medicine providers as Patient Experience Leaders for delivering outstanding patient care in the 2023 fiscal year.

The Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation is devoted to driving the transformation of health and health care by future-proofing the health care workforce and fostering and facilitating high-value innovation that will improve health outcomes and economic development. One way the institute has done this is through the Dothan Community Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, which was held at the Health Center South Medical Tower.

UAB Department of Surgery faculty are leading the way in education for trauma surgeons by creating guides for a new series published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. Both pieces are “need to know” articles on damage control resuscitation (DCR) in both adult and pediatric trauma patient populations.

UAB’s Center for Injury Science (CIS) Director Jan Jansen, MBBS, Ph.D., Executive Director Shannon Stephens, and senior scientist John Holcomb, M.D., were featured in the 2nd Annual (Trauma and Prothrombin Complex Concentrate) TAP Investigators Meeting.

UAB was represented at the recent 2023 HAVI (the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention) Conference last month in Chicago.

The grant will support a comprehensive five-year project in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) aimed at identifying and addressing barriers to medical diagnosis and care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, emphasizing the experience and impact on African American adults and adolescents and implementing community engagement programs with Birmingham-based organizations to raise awareness of IBD and provide education on effective management among local healthcare professionals, potential patients, and caregivers.

The wait is almost over - the 2023 American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress is just a few weeks away!

The UAB Department of Surgery is honored to announce the recent promotion of nine faculty members.

The Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health hosted guest seminar speaker Marcos Ribeiro, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D., FCCP, associate professor in the Section of Pulmonology in the Department of Medicine at the Health Science Centre, State University of Londrina in Parana, Brazil on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

Luke Burleson, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and program director of the Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Resource-Limited Settings (PURLS) fellowship, and Matthew Larrison, M.D., professor in the Department of Radiology, have implemented a Point-of-Care Ultrasound curriculum for family practice residents in Kenya.

On Tuesday, September 19, 2023, the Healthcare Educators Academy (HEA) at UAB gathered to celebrate the program’s outgoing and incoming cohort of mentors and mentees. The reception was held at the UAB National Alumni Society House and included faculty and dean participation from across the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Optometry, Health Professions, and Public Health.