Nominations for first-quarter 2026 are open now; submit a nomination online.Emily Griffith, admissions counselor and regional recruiter with Undergraduate Admissions; Holly Waller, senior director for Trauma and Burn Services; and Matt Windsor, senior writer with Marketing and Communications, are the third-quarter 2025 honorees for the UAB Values in Action Program.

The UAB VIP Award honors employees whose work exemplifies and embodies one or more of the We CARE Shared Values outlined in the Forging Ahead strategic plan: Collaborate, Act With Integrity, Respect All and Excel. All three honorees have made a lasting impact on the fabric and culture of UAB by exemplifying the university’s shared values.

Honorees are nominated by their colleagues and selected by a committee of individuals from across the campus and UAB Hospital. One of the 2025 VIP honorees will be selected for the annual President’s Award for Excellence in Shared Values.

Meet this quarter’s UAB VIP Award honorees:

Emily Griffith

As an admissions counselor and regional recruiter for Undergraduate Admissions, Emily Griffith works with high school students throughout north Alabama. “Emily has always made sure these students get a personal experience with UAB that they will not get from other universities,” said Nicole Otero, program director II in the Office of Academic Initiatives and Programs. “She wants them to not only visit and see the campus and know what we have to offer, but also understand what they can do at UAB that can help them impact the community here and beyond.”

Griffith collaborates often in her role by connecting prospective students to the educators and departments that will help them achieve their academic dreams. “Emily often reaches out to me and other employees involved in recruiting for specific schools,” Otero said. “She asks us to set up ‘gold visits’ with faculty/current students to give a personal touch to their campus visits.” She also helps students who are highly interested in research as a career to secure tours of UAB biomedical research labs, Otero says.

“When she first came to UAB, it did not take her long to help Admissions leadership develop new events and new ways to engage with students,” said recruiter James Barlow. “She is incredible at generating ideas,” Barlow said, whether it is a concept for an event or way to better help serve her students.

Griffith often begins building relationships with prospective students years before they make a college decision, taking time to meet with students and their families in order to help match them with the best path to achieve their dreams. “She also attends high school awards days and other special events that prospective students she meets are involved in,” Otero said. “They can see what a support UAB is for them,” even before they have enrolled. “She truly cares about their futures, and it shows.”

This approach is especially important for students in schools with limited resources and opportunities.  Otero explains. Griffith makes sure these students see that UAB can offer them such opportunities — and that they are not going to be left behind because they did have these experiences during high school, Otero said: “She also makes sure she brings connections to them, often reaching out to those in her own network to get meetings with doctors to learn about their work and tours of hospital units, or giving them insight into summer programs at UAB and in their region that they can participate in before college.”

“I think she is an exceptional recruiter and an even better human being,” Barlow added. “She always does more than what is asked of her, because she is always finding ways to enhance whatever it is she is a part of. She’s a delight to be around and is one of the best recruiters we have ever had.”

Holly Waller

Holly Waller, senior director of Trauma and Burn Services for UAB Medicine, started her career at UAB more than 30 years ago. In that time, she has dedicated herself to providing and improving care to trauma patients, preventing traumatic injuries in the community, and helping to build UAB’s trauma program into the nationally respected Level 1 trauma center it is today.

Jeffrey Kerby, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the Department of Surgery, provided numerous examples of Waller’s collaborative efforts to expand trauma care at UAB. “Holly worked closely with Dr. Daniel Cox to strategically redesign the trauma service by increasing APP [advanced practice provider] support from eight to 40 mid-level providers,” Kerby said. “She also worked with Dr. Samuel Windham and Dr. Jonathan Black to increase APP support in the Surgical ICU. These changes have resulted in improved patient outcomes, a reduced length of stay for patients and an increase in the number of trauma patients cared for” at UAB.

“Holly also collaborates effortlessly across disciplines,” said Brooke Vining, vice president of Clinical Operations at UAB Medicine. “Whether coordinating with surgeons, nurses, therapists or community partners, she is a unifying presence — ensuring that care remains seamless and patient-centered.”

“Holly’s influence and impact on trauma care is evident beyond the walls of UAB Hospital as well,” Kerby said. “She is a respected collaborator in the community of Birmingham and across the state.” In 2022, Waller was instrumental in a multi-agency collaboration resulting in the hospital-based Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, Kerby explains. “She represented UAB Hospital as she worked with the City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office, the Jefferson County Department of Public Health and the Offender Alumni Association on the development of this program, which is the first of its kind in Alabama,” Kerby said.

Waller’s dedication to her patients does not start or end in the hospital. She also works to prevent traumatic injuries in the community — saving people from ever needing trauma care. “She has been a tireless advocate for injury prevention efforts for over two decades,” Kerby said. “She has personally performed several outreach activities providing driver awareness training for high school students all throughout the Birmingham area. She also hired an injury prevention coordinator and has developed fall prevention training for the geriatric population, addressing prevention activities for a growing population of elderly trauma patients being seen at UAB.”

In addition, Waller continues to support trauma patients after discharge and developed numerous resources for trauma patients to use. “She consistently looks beyond the bedside to consider the holistic impact of traumatic injuries — advocating for better resources, education, and support systems for patients and families long after discharge,” Vining said. “Her work reflects not just commitment, but heart.”

Learn more about Waller in this story from the UAB Department of Surgery.

Matt Windsor

Matt Windsor, senior writer in the Office of Marketing and Communications, has been shaping UAB communications for 20 years. He writes for a multitude of publications and helps ensure information about the university is accurate and aligned, whether it appears on a website, a commencement program, a light pole banner or a marketing campaign, colleagues say.

“Matt has written for the UAB Reporter, UAB Magazine, UAB News, and many other publications and platforms during his tenure, and was instrumental in developing new ways of featuring UAB’s innovation across the institution in the now-archived research blog ‘The Mix’ and in custom publications like UAB’s 50th anniversary book,” said Julie Keith, assistant vice president for Content Strategy in Marketing and Communications. “During the pandemic, he also was a critical member of the team charged with parsing, writing and communicating COVID-19 guidance and policies via the UAB United initiative.”

“Matt is a trusted and seasoned communicator,” said Julie Cole Miller, director of Content Strategy in Marketing and Communications. “He is the go-to source for communicating the complexities of many institutional efforts, including the Research Strategic Initiative, the SUCCESS Initiative, UAB’s shared values and other high-profile efforts.”

Windsor always acts with integrity, crafting each communication, big or small, with care, nominators say. “His work touches every UAB employee, and he takes that responsibility extremely seriously, putting in many long hours to ensure we are providing important, interesting, accurate and helpful information,” Keith said.

Miller noted Windsor’s commitment to excellence. “Matt has an eye for detail and a unique understanding of UAB’s particulars,” she said. “He is able to effectively translate the nuances of complex research studies in a way that educates and entertains, and in fact, he himself often participates in clinical studies as a healthy control.”

“Matt is one of the kindest, most caring and supportive colleagues with whom I’ve ever had the pleasure to work,” Keith said. “While he’s curious, ambitious, and driven to learn and do more, he is never arrogant or selfish. He’s always helpful and compassionate to everyone in MarComm and beyond and is widely respected across campus.”

“He skillfully shines a spotlight on the work of UAB’s best and brightest talents, and I believe he’s earned a turn in the spotlight himself,” Miller said. 

Nominations for 2026 first-quarter honorees are open now. Submit a nomination online.

https://www.uab.edu/humanresources/home/relations/recognition/vip-award