The Civitan International Research Center’s mission is to improve the well-being and quality of life of individuals and families affected by intellectual and developmental disabilities.

National Epilepsy Awareness Month is observed throughout the month of November, providing support, awareness, and education to promote understanding and improve the lives of those effected by epilepsy. At UAB, the Epilepsy Center, located within Civitan International Research Center, offers clinical, research, and educational services to patients with epilepsy.

Civitan International Research Center (CIRC) is a center dedicated to integrating knowledge and methods from various scientific fields to improve the lives of those who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.

For their continued research in sleep disorders in individuals with Down syndrome, UAB’s Caroline G. Richter, Ph.D. and S. Justin Thomas, Ph.D. were named the recipients of the 2024-2025 McNulty Civitan Scientist Award.

Camerron Crowder, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAB Department of Neurobiology and assistant director of the Hugh Kaul Precision Medicine Institute (PMI), offers a unique research opportunity for undergraduate students by teaching the PMI research process, how to develop animal models, and the use of artificial intelligence to identify treatment options through courses in the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program.

Kirstie Cummings, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Neurobiology, was recently honored with the Heersink School of Medicine's Featured Discovery Award. She was recognized alongside Zephyr R. Desa, a UAB neuroscience Ph.D. student, and Rodrigo Campos-Cardoso, Ph.D., a UAB postdoc, the study’s first authors. The initiative highlights significant research contributions from Heersink faculty members.

Caroline G. Richter, Ph.D., and S. Justin Thomas, Ph.D., have been selected for the 2024-2025 McNulty Civitan Scientist Award.

This finding suggests that therapy to remodel synapses could help memory in old age and dementia patients.

This devastating neurodevelopmental disorder has no currently approved treatments.

Cassandra Newsom, Psy.D., director of the Translational Research Core in Autism and Neurodevelopment of Civitan International Research Center, has completed participation in Phase 2 Clinical Trials of a new drug, NNZ-2591, that shows promising results for a devastating neurodevelopmental disorder called Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome (PTHS).