News

Thirty-seven UAB employees recently graduated from the Emerging Leaders Workshop fall 2026 leadership development program. ELW offers a leadership development opportunity for emerging leaders at a manager, director, or similar level. The program, presented by the UAB Medicine Leadership Development Office (LDO), recognized its sixth cohort of graduates at a ceremony on Oct. 29.

Members from the Department of Pathology gathered to celebrate esteemed milestones amongst colleagues on November 11 to recognize awards and distinctions from the past year. The event was held at the UAB West Pavilion Conference Center to honor outstanding professional service to UAB and the department.

Fourteen Heersink School of Medicine faculty were recognized for their appointment to endowed chairs and professorships during the Fall 2026 Endowed Chairs and Professorships Reception.

Members from the UAB Department of Pathology gathered on November 6 in the Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building to celebrate a variety of research efforts ongoing in the department. More than 120 faculty, staff, trainees, and students registered to take part in the event.

The Department of Pathology is thrilled to welcome Niharika Shah, M.D., who will join the Division of Anatomic Pathology as an assistant professor, effective November 1.

On October 29, the Department of Pathology hosted its tenth annual Jay John Listinsky Lecture in Glycobiology featuring Kelly G. Ten Hagen, Ph.D., Senior Investigator and Chief, Associate Scientific Director, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health. Ten Hagen delivered the lecture “Mucins and O-Glycosylation in Health and Disease."

The Department of Pathology is pleased to announce the winner of its inaugural 2026 Service Award, Andrea Kahn, M.D., a professor in the Division of Women’s Health and section head of gynecologic pathology. This award recognizes an outstanding faculty or staff member whose dedication, professionalism, and commitment to service have made a meaningful impact on the department throughout the year.

Nirupama Singh, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the Division of Laboratory Medicine, and medical director for the Stem Cell Collection Laboratory, has been named associate departmental value officer, effective October 1. Singh will serve in this role alongside Isam-Eldin Eltoum, M.D., MBA, Vice Chair for Quality and Patient Safety, Departmental Value Officer.

UAB is a leader in the field of bioenergetics, or mitochondrial function, which plays an important role in common diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, pulmonary disease, obesity, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. As new standards for scientific research are developed, acquiring advanced technology is vital for the institution to remain competitive in the field.

The 2026 Tri-State Pathology Conference took place on October 24-25 at Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach, bringing together the Alabama Association of Pathologists, the Louisiana Association of Pathologists, and the Mississippi Association of Pathologists.

Ten staff members of the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine have been named recipients of the 2026 Dean’s Excellence Awards for Staff. Now in its fourth year, the award recognizes staff who go beyond the expectations of their roles to advance Heersink’s core missions of education, clinical care, and research.

UAB researchers discovered that the heart may retain a biological “memory” of past high blood sugar, increasing vulnerability to future cardiac stress even after glucose levels return to normal. The findings provide new insight into diabetes-related heart disease risk.

The Department of Pathology is thrilled to announce the winners of its 2026 Chair's Excellence Awards. These awards celebrate faculty members in the Department of Pathology who exude clinical, research, and educational excellence.

The UAB Department of Pathology recently funded a travel award to Joshua Kramer, Ph.D., who presented his research at the 2026 Masoro-Barshop Conference on Aging, October 8–11 in Bandera, Texas.

The Department of Pathology is pleased to announce the appointment of Neda Wick, M.D., an assistant professor in the Division of Neuropathology, as program director of the department’s residency program, effective October 6, 2026. 

The Department of Pathology is pleased to announce the promotion and tenure of seven of our esteemed faculty colleagues for 2026, effective October 1, 2026.

Glioblastoma is a deadly brain cancer that is difficult to treat because tumor cells spread into the healthy brain, where they cannot be completely removed by surgery.

Patients with diabetes remain at higher risk for heart disease even after their blood sugar, or A1C level, is brought under control. The long-lasting effect, known as metabolic memory, suggests that past elevated A1C may leave lasting changes in heart cells. However, the biological mechanisms responsible for this impact are not fully understood.

Natalie Gassman, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, was named chair-elect for the UAB Faculty Senate, effective September 1. Gassman will hold the title until August 31, 2027, while serving as chair of the Faculty Senate Research Committee. She will become chair of the Senate September 1, 2027, through August 31, 2028.

The UAB Department of Pathology has been strategically planning its digital pathology effort since well before its initial launch in 2024, but what is digital pathology? And why is this new initiative so important?

This year the Society of Forensic Toxicologists and The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists hosted their annual meeting jointly in Chicago, Illinois, September 19-24.

Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, and Alabama ranks second nationally in cancer-related deaths. Despite rapid advances in cancer biology, diagnostics, and treatment, student engagement in cancer research and matriculation into careers in cancer research is limited, often due to minimal exposure to cancer-related content in secondary education.

Twenty-three Heersink School of Medicine faculty were recognized Sept. 22 for their appointment to endowed chairs and professorships during a special reception.

Two Research and Clinical Experience in Pathology (RaCE4Path) students, Jack Alford and Lily Kilgore, presented at the 2026 UAB Heersink School of Medicine Dale J Benos Medical Student Research Day on September 14. Alford and Kilgore tied for first place in the poster presentation competition for pathology.

A multi-institutional, UAB-led study found that pathologists can reliably distinguish the spectrum of HER2-negative breast cancer subtypes, strengthening the evaluation of how HER2-targeted therapies can improve patient treatment.

UAB researchers Abhishek Guha, Ph.D., and Peter H. King, M.D., in the Department of Neurology, have received a multi-PI R01 research award from the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to investigate novel molecular mechanisms underlying the development and persistence of pain after acute peripheral injury.

Ralph Sanderson, Ph.D., a professor emeritus in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, retired from the department on August 31, 2023, after 17 years of service at UAB and 34 years in the field of pathology.

The UAB Medicine Leadership Development Office (LDO) recently recognized 14 individuals in its ninth cohort of Sharing Authentically to Inspire and Lead (SAIL). The fall 2026 graduates received their certificates on Sept. 1.

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women worldwide. HER2, or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, is a protein found on the surface of some cells in the body that regulate normal cell growth.

A study led by Lana Garmire, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of research in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science, was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.