News

The UAB Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health, in conjunction with the UAB Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation, proudly announces the fifth cohort of pilot grant awardees.Four innovative projects have received pilot funding to encourage collaboration between UAB investigators and international partners, tackling critical global health challenges.

Twenty-nine employees were selected for the 2026 cohort of the Developing Emerging Administrative Leaders program, which exposes promising staff members to the essential components of administrative and management positions across UAB. Meet the new class.

A specialized training helps ICU specialists understand the complex dance of ventilator-assisted breathing as never before. Take a look behind the scenes of the first Multi-institutional Fundamentals of Mechanical Ventilation course at UAB — and see how educators are spreading the knowledge to doctors across the region.

Sedative choice could improve patient outcomes in patients who have been intubated.  

The JAMA article is potentially practice-changing by enabling a diagnosis of COPD in individuals without airflow obstruction.

The finding of TREM2 as a critical regulator of macrophage-mediated fibrosis makes it a promising therapeutic target for intervention for lung fibrotic disease.

Three UAB professors offer expertise on springtime allergies and ways to mitigate pollen’s grip.

In grateful recognition of a transformational $95 million lead gift from longtime University of Alabama at Birmingham supporter Marnix E. Heersink, M.D., the UAB School of Medicine will now be named the UAB Marnix E.

Sixteen remarkable faculty members have been named winners of the 2023 Dean’s Excellence Awards for Faculty. This award recognizes their exceptional achievements in teaching, research, service, mentorship, and fostering diversity within the Heersink School of Medicine.

Veena Antony, M.D., professor in the Department of Medicine's Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, is the senior faculty winner of the Dean's Excellence Award in Research. Antony's research is focused on environmental and translational medicine, cystic fibrosis, pleural disease, and lung injury.

J. Edwin “Ed” Blalock, Ph.D., professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, is the recipient of the senior faculty 2022 Dean’s Excellence Awards in Mentorship.   He has been an active and vibrant faculty member at UAB for over 35 years.

J. Edwin Blalock, Ph.D.

Mark Dransfield, M.D., has been named interim chair of the UAB Department of Medicine, effective Sept. 1, 2024.

A 3D printer for prosthetics, navigation for patients on dialysis and a new electron microscope are three of the 11 projects to receive funding. The HSF-GEF faculty grants program is a way for UAB to support innovative ideas from its researchers and clinicians.

This live biotherapeutic product, tested in mouse models, shows promise in addressing common pathways of lung disease progression.

UAB Medicine’s Leadership Development Office recently recognized 12 individuals in its fourth cohort of Sharing Authentically to Inspire and Lead (SAIL). The spring 2024 graduates received their certificates on April 9.

Hitesh Batra, M.D., M.B.A. The UAB Interventional Pulmonology (IP) program will begin expansion to a new space in Fall 2024 to improve their clinical practices later in the year.

Tracy Luckhardt, M.D. As the field of pulmonary medicine has evolved dramatically since 2020, faculty at UAB have revamped the fellowship training experience to better meet the needs of its learners.

Bryan Garcia, M.D. According to the American Lung Association, the number of people living with Nontuberculous Mycobacterial (NTM) lung disease is on the rise, especially among women and older age groups.

Cigarette smoking is associated with COPD, and each cigarette has 2 to 3 micrograms of cadmium.

Joseph Barney, M.D., Crystal Stephens, CRNP, Kevin Dsouza, M.D., and Dhaval Raval, M.D. Joseph Barney, M.D., Kevin Dsouza, M.D., Dhaval Raval, M.D., and Crystal Stephens, CRNP have launched a new ELD clinic at UAB.

Sandeep Bodduluri, Ph.D.. Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to revolutionize medical practice, and assistant professor Sandeep Bodduluri, Ph.D., will ensure UAB’s pulmonary physicians are ready for this transformation.

MIcheal Wells, M.D., Amit Gaggar ,M.D., Ph.D., and Gabriella Oates, Ph.D. The UAB Lung Health Center has appointed three new pulmonary leaders to advance the treatment and study of lung health: Mike Wells, Amit Gaggar, and Gabriela Oates.

Surya Bhatt, M.D., MSPH, professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, & Critical Care Medicine, is the latest winner of the Heersink School of Medicine's Featured Discovery. This initiative celebrates important research from Heersink faculty members.

Ranu Surolia, Ph.D.

Nathaniel Erdmann, M.D., Ph.D., Amit Gaggar, M.D., and Matthew Might, Ph.D., are the latest winners of the Heersink School of Medicine's Featured Discovery. This initiative celebrates important research from Heersink faculty members.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with type 2 inflammation saw rapid and sustained improvements in their disease after treatment with the monoclonal antibody dupilumab.

Surya Bhatt, M.D. Surya Bhatt, M.D., an associate professor in the UAB Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that patients with COPD and type 2 inflammation who received the biologic agent dupilumab had fewer exacerbations, better lung function, and less severe respiratory symptoms than those who received a placebo.

Surya Bhatt, M.D. Considerable controversy exists on the best methods to diagnose airflow obstruction.

While 92% of Americans say it’s important to discuss their wishes for end-of-life care, only 32% have had such a conversation.1 As an intensivist and pulmonary assistant professor, Anand Iyer, M.D., knows this quite well. He’s been having conversations about serious illness with patients and their families for over a decade.