U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) recently ranked UAB Hospital as the best hospital in Alabama, naming several of its specialties as top-ranking in the nation. UAB Hospital’s diabetes and endocrinology specialty was ranked as high performing, the highest classification.
Faculty and staff in the UAB Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism play a key role in the clinical ranking of the specialty. The ranking criteria include hospital volume, nurse staffing and other resources that define the hospital environment.
Several members of the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC) are appointed within the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism. Although the USNWR ranking mainly emphasizes clinical aspects, patients benefit from the translation of UCDC research findings into the division’s clinics.
Director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Professor Fernando Ovalle, M.D., is also an associate director of the UCDC. Through these two vital roles, Ovalle supports collaboration between scientists and clinicians.
“This high rating showcases the hard work of our faculty and staff who care for patients with diabetes and other endocrinology disorders,” said Ovalle. “Every person in our division is key to ensuring we provide our patients with excellent care. You make UAB one of the top places in the nation for diabetes and endocrinology– thank you.”
UCDC Director Anath Shalev, M.D., is thankful that patients benefit from the collaborative environment of the UCDC and the division and get access to innovative approaches and new clinical trials.
“The UAB Diabetes Clinic does outstanding clinical work, and the UCDC is proud to support their efforts through discovering, developing and testing curative therapies for diabetes,” said Shalev. “We share a mission with the division: to improve the lives of those with diabetes.”
In total, U.S. News notes that it ranks hospitals in 15 areas of complex specialty care. According to USNWR, ratings and rankings are based on each hospital's patient outcomes – that is, how well patients have fared after treatment – as well as other factors that matter to patients, like the quality of their experience and whether the hospital is adequately staffed.
The UCDC is a University-Wide Interdisciplinary Research Center comprised of over 200 faculty members from 10 different schools and many different departments and its research spans basic, translational, and clinical studies. It also serves as the umbrella for various research programs and awards, including the prestigious P30 Diabetes Research Center (DRC) and several research core facilities.