Sergio Stagno, M.D., has been named the 2015 Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, the highest honor bestowed by the UAB Academic Health Center.
Stagno will deliver a lecture titled “Building the Department of Pediatrics: A Team Effort (1988-2014)” at a seated dinner in his honor Dec. 2.
Stagno, Distinguished Professor and Chair Emeritus of Pediatrics, joined the faculty in 1973 as an assistant professor, and in 1980 was promoted to professor. In 1988, he was named chair of the Department of Pediatrics at UAB and Physician-in-Chief of Children’s of Alabama. In 1993, he was appointed to the Katharine Reynolds Ireland Chair of Pediatrics. He also served as interim vice president for Health Affairs in 1995, interim president of the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation in 2008 and president of HSF from 2010 to 2012.
“In every role he has assumed, Dr. Stagno has exemplified the qualifications for the DFL award,” said UAB President Ray L. Watts. “His leadership and service extend to our global community as well, and it is especially in his international work – less visible and done on his own time – that we see an outstanding medical and administrative mind coupled with a true servant’s heart.”
Stagno has been a world leader in pediatric infectious diseases, serving on the executive committee of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and on several NIH study sections and advisory councils. His research has focused on cytomegalovirus, especially infection acquired during pregnancy and the consequences of the disease for children. Through the Child Health Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization directed by Stagno, he has provided funding for the establishment of three Centers of Excellence in Chile and promoted the exchange of pediatricians in training between these universities and UAB.