The UAB Heersink School of Medicine Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine is privileged to announce the promotion and tenure of six esteemed faculty members, effective Oct. 1, 2024. These accolades are significant accomplishments that show each recipient’s commitment to the department and its academic missions and mark a milestone in their academic careers.

Shama Ahmad, Ph.D. – Award of Tenure (Full Professor)
Dr. Ahmad is a professor with research interests in lung injury and repair. Her laboratory focuses on investigating mechanisms of toxic inhaled environmental or industrial chemical-induced pulmonary and/or cardiac toxicity, aiming to establish methods to mitigate these agents' harmful effects.

George Dumas, M.D. – Promotion to Professor
Dr. Dumas is chief of anesthesia services at UAB Callahan Eye Hospital and has been an educator and clinician at UAB for more than a decade. His research interests include ophthalmic anesthesia, geriatric anesthesia, and outpatient anesthesia.

Ryan Melvin, Ph.D. – Promotion to Associate Professor
Dr. Melvin leads our embedded data science team, and his most recent work has brought data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning tools to the perioperative space. These contributions promise to establish our department as a leader in these fields and have profound impact on patient care.

Mark Phillips, M.D., FASA – Promotion to Professor
Dr. Phillips has been an integral part of UAB anesthesia for 30 years. He is active in the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), serving on numerous committees over the course of his career. He continues to represent Alabama as part of the state's delegation to the ASA Legislative Conference, further contributing to the field on a national level. In 2023, he was elected to the prestigious Academy of Anesthesiology.

Justin Routman, M.D., MSHA – Promotion to Associate Professor
Dr. Routman recently stepped into the role of vice chair and division director of the Division of Multispecialty Anesthesia. Throughout his career at UAB, he has made a poignant impact in our department. In 2020, he was recognized as a Top 10 Faculty Educator. Dr. Routman’s research interests lie in non-operating room anesthesia (NORA) and provider engagement. He has made significant contributions to conversations surrounding NORA within UAB and at a national level through his contributions to ASA and other national societies.

Songwei Wu, M.D. – Promotion to Professor
Dr. Wu is a well-regarded anesthesiologist in the department with clinical and research interests in lung injury and repair. He is a researcher in the divisions of Multispecialty Anesthesia and Molecular and Translational Biomedicine. In 2020, the UAB Office of Research awarded Dr. Wu funding in response to their call for Urgent High-Impact COVID-19 Research 2.0.