On Thursday, Aug. 10, the UAB Medicine Leadership Development Office (LDO) held its first annual reception to honor the participants of six cohorts (91 graduates) who have completed the UAB Medicine Institute for Leadership.

John Osborne, Ph.D., assistant professor of Medicine at the Informatics Institute, recently received a notice of award for a U24 supplement to develop a cancer algorithm predicting the severity of cancer recurrence in patients. The work will build on previously funded work to identify recurrence retrospectively in UAB cancer patients using structured EHR data and clinical text.

On August 13, 2023, members from the UAB Heersink School of Medicine incoming MS1 class gathered with friends, family, faculty, and staff to celebrate the White Coat Ceremony.

UAB and the University Teaching Hospital/University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia have collaborated on a project titled “Interventions to Reduce Infant Mortality and Morbidity in Low Resource Settings,” which has been continuously funded since 2003. The funding for the ongoing program has been competitively renewed for a seven-year term by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health. 

Ryan Godwin, Ph.D., instructor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine and the Department of Radiology, and Sandeep Bodduluri, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and Instructor & Advisor for AI Programming for the Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation, have partnered to instruct the institute’s new graduate certificate course, Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine.

Dr. and Mrs. Marnix E. Heersink have been announced as the William M. and Virginia B. Spencer Outstanding Philanthropists at this November’s National Philanthropy Day ceremony.

Sara Gould, M.D., MPH, associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Camden Hebson, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, were recently featured as experts on ESPN’s SportsCenter regarding athlete Bronny James’ recent cardiac arrest.

Aaron Casp, M.D., and Amit Momaya, M.D., attended the Annual American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) Conference in Washington, D.C. on July 13-16. Casp presented on cartilage injuries in elite athletes.

William Illiano, a medical student at the Heersink School of Medicine, has been awarded the 2023 Sara Crews Finley, M.D., Endowed Leadership Scholarship.

The UAB Comprehensive Stroke Center has been recertified by the Joint Commission. This designation identifies UAB as an industry leader responsible for setting the national agenda in highly specialized stroke care.

In April 2023, Alejandra Colón-López, Ph.D., the Department of Medical Education’s first postdoctoral scholar in its history, received a MERIT award from NIH/NIGMS. The Mentored Experiences in Research, Instruction, and Teaching (MERIT) Program is an Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (K12) that aims to allow postdoctoral scholars opportunity for research and teaching experiences.

The Heersink School of Medicine hosted new student orientation for the class of 2027 July 24-27. Our MS1 students spent the week learning the tools and information they need to begin their journey through medical school.

The UAB Heersink School of Medicine Office of Research introduces new faculty for Spring 2023. Please join Heersink School of Medicine and the Office of Research in welcoming these new faculty.

UAB and McMaster University are focusing on radiopharmaceutical development through a new program that will provide opportunities for collaboration and training on research, translation, and commercialization.

On Thursday, May 18, UAB celebrated Clinical Trials Day. Since 2020, UAB has averaged nearly 300 new clinical trials annually.

The Board of Visitors will be officially welcoming three new members this October – Dr. John Gallin, Sara Finley, and Gordon Lee.

Endowed appointments are vital to faculty recruitment, retention, and support. This spring, we honored our newly endowed chairs and professors and celebrated newly established endowments.

During his first six months as dean of the Heersink School of Medicine, Dr. Anupam Agarwal has been consistently active in the school's regional campuses. Early in his new appointment, Agarwal visited each campus and met with leadership to discuss student and faculty needs. Additionally, our Montgomery Regional Medical Campus hosted the inaugural Montgomery Health Policy Meeting and is looking at ways to collaborate with the Equal Justice Initative (EJI) in the future.

The Heersink School of Medicine could not provide groundbreaking research, world-class medical training, and nationally recognized patient care without its incredibly hardworking and talented faculty and staff. We believe that recognizing exceptional individuals within our organization is crucial to expressing our gratitude to them as well as our value in their work. We celebrate our faculty and staff both through internal awards and by recognizing their external honors.

The annual ArtBLINK Gala returned to the UAB Kirklin Clinic Feb. 4 and raised more than $900,000 for the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

UAB is an ever-expanding community, and growth begins with leadership. That is why we are so proud that, from February 1-June 30, 18 new full-time faculty members joined the Heersink School of Medicine, and a number of existing faculty members assumed new leadership roles. Two examples of these dedicated, engaging, innovative and inspiring individuals who bring fresh ideas and perspectives to our school are Herbert Chen, M.D., FACS, and J. Victor Garcia-Martinez, Ph.D.

In March 2023, UAB celebrated the Medical Alumni Association’s 50th Annual Medical Alumni Weekend, the 70th Anniversary of Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the 15th Anniversary of UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center. These milestones serve as an excellent opportunity to look at where we started and a reminder to look forward to all we wish to achieve.

In fall 2023, the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine opened the doors of its Heersink Family Active Learning Center to students, heralding a new era of teaching and learning for UAB medical students.

Elizabeth Jackson, M.D., MPH, director of the Cardiovascular Outcomes and Effectiveness Research Program, graduated from The Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM®) program in April 2023.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) COVID-19 Caregiving Affected Early-Career Research Scientists (CARES) Retention Program was established in 2021. Its purpose is to support early-career researchers who experienced a decline in their scholarship and research output due to caregiving responsibilities during the pandemic’s peak. CARES aims to prevent these researchers from leaving academic research by providing funding for additional support.

The Department of Medical Education mourns the recent passing of Robin Lester, Ph.D., Course Director for the Neuroscience Module. Dr. Lester was a pillar of innovative education within the Heersink School of Medicine, and his loss will be felt throughout our department.

Merida Grant, Ph.D., director of the Trauma-Related Disorders Clinic, and Rebecca Rampe, Psy.D., director of the Initial Psychotherapy Practicum Psychology Clinic and the Developmental Trauma and Traumatic Grief Clinic, are conducting research to learn more about treatment options for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related disorders.

The UAB Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, alongside the Division of Endocrine Surgery, is pleased to offer the 2023 Endocrinology Update Conference on Saturday, August 19 beginning at 8 a.m. at the Hilton Birmingham at UAB.

Heersink School of Medicine’s newest series, Innovation in Action, takes you behind the scenes of some of UAB’s most innovative clinics, programs, and patient-centered services in the School of Medicine. Get started with us as we closely examine the UAB Medicine Cardiovascular Institute.

Molly Wasko, Ph.D., MBA, UAB University Professor and associate dean for Research, Innovation and Faculty Success in the Collat School of Business., has partnered with the Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation to instruct its new graduate certificate course, Leadership & Ethics of AI in Medicine.