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Strategic Plan UABForging Ahead: UAB's Strategic Plan 2024-2028

Forging Ahead, UAB's five-year strategic plan for 2024-2028, builds on the success of past plans and outlines the university's mission, vision, shared values, peers, foundations and pillars, as well as outlines institutional goals and strategies to achieve them, and measurements of success.

Shared Values: We CARE

Collaborate: Work as a team for the greater good.
Act with integrity: Be accountable and always do the right thing.
Respect all: Champion diversity and opportunities for all, with civility.
Excel: Innovate and strive for excellence in everything we do.

UAB Mission

UAB enriches society and improves health and well-being through transformational educational experiences, groundbreaking research, innovation and entrepreneurship, community engagement, and world-class patient care while serving our UAB, local and global communities.

UAB Vision

UAB is a world-class research university and academic health system committed to understanding and improving the human experience.

A New Framework for SOD Success

With UAB’s adoption of Forging Ahead, each school/college/unit is now creating localized strategic plans to advance each area of the enterprise, guided by the big-picture direction provided by Forging Ahead. As those efforts continue – informed by Forging Ahead – we are reminded to maintain a focus on the institution’s refreshed vision, mission and values. Ultimately, we exist to improve the lives of people – at UAB, across Birmingham and Alabama, and around the world.

The SOD Strategic Planning Process

Following suit with Forging Ahead, our school has adopted an inclusive process to leverage the knowledge and expertise of our most valuable resource – our people. Input and feedback will be sought at various stages throughout the process.

SOD Strategic Planning Process

SOD Strategic Planning Process

This process is intended to result in a big-picture, overarching school wide strategic plan. That an entity or initiative is not directly named in the school’s ultimate plan, does not mean it is not critically important. We look forward to individual departments developing their own complementary plans that focus on these and other important department-level initiatives.

SOD Strategic Planning Teams

  • Strategic Planning Working Group

    Lead: Dr. Nico Geurs

    Members: Dr. Ramzi Abou-Arraj, Dr. Chin-Chuan Fu, Dr. Ashraf F. Fouad, Dr. Mia Geisinger, Dr. Gregg Gilbert, Dr. Daniel Givan, Dr. Janice Jackson, Dr. Amjad Javed, Dr. Chung Kau, Dr. Patrick Louis, Dr. Carly Timmons McKenzie, Lynne Jarreau, and David Wilson

  • Education Pillar Team

    Lead: Dr. Ramzi Abou-Arraj

    Members: Dr. Peter Smith, Dr. Daniel Givan, Dr. Carly Timmons McKenzie, Dr. Christine Blass, Dr. Chin-Chuan Fu, Dr. Nathaniel Lawson, Dr. Christos Vlachos, Dr. Elyse Dengler, Dr. Stephen Mitchell, Dr. Mia Geisinger, Dr. Raquel Mazer, Dr. Shandra Coble, Dr. Po-Hsu Chen, Sarah Connor, Monyca Smith, Lynne Jarreau, Maysara Nassar, and Helen Tamara Gibson

  • Research Pillar Team

    Lead: Dr. Amjad Javed

    Members: Dr. Gregg Gilbert, Dr. Joana Cunha-Cruz, Dr. Ping Zhang, Dr. Ejvis Lamani, Dr. Nathaniel Lawson, Dr. Hope Amm, Dr. Quamarul Hassan, Dr. Farahnaz Fahimipour, Dr. Ashraf F. Fouad, Dr. Kyounga Cheon, Dr. Mohamed Khass, Dr. Chung How Kau, Kelsey Hoggatt, Christopher Washington, Kayla McCullough, Edwin Rojas, and Caris Smith

  • Community Engagement Pillar Team

    Leads: Dr. Carly Timmons McKenzie and Dr. Nico Geurs

    Members: Scott Huffman, Dr. Janice Jackson, Dr. Raquel Mazer, Dr. Michelle Seidenfaden, Ann Marie Karaki, Dr. Snigdha Gummadi, Theresa Creel, Lynne Jarreau, Wendy Scripps, Kelly Stinson, Symone Stewart, and Zoe Kardis

  • Patient Care Pillar Team

    Lead: Dr. Daniel Givan

    Members: Dr. Ashraf F. Fouad, Dr. Chin-Chuan Fu, Dr. Mia Geisinger, Dr. Jeff Hill, Dr. Chung Kau, Dr. Maninder Kaur, Dr. Emerson Martins, Dr. Raquel Mazer, Dr. Ping Zhang, Kathleen Diveley, Joshua Hill-Sales, Decarlos Wright, Robert Hubbard, Lynne Jarreau, Andretta Johnson, Wanda Yvnette Marshall, Angela Rembert, Jacquiselyn Story, Catherine Tilford, Alan Camp, and Chase Feagin

  • Financial Stability Foundation

    Lead: David Wilson

    Members: Scott Huffman and Dr. Mia Geisinger

Vision, Mission, and Values

With the input of our faculty, staff, and students, we have identified the following as our foundational principles:

SOD Vision

Advancing oral health through innovation and comprehensive care

SOD Mission

To improve oral health for all through collaboration, education, innovation, discovery, and service to patients and communities

Shared Values: We CARE

Collaborate: Work as a team for the greater good.
Act with integrity: Be accountable and always do the right thing.
Respect all: Champion diversity and opportunities for all, with civility.
Excel: Innovate and strive for excellence in everything we do.