Monica Baskin, PhD (Preventive Medicine) will serve as the Department of Medicine’s first Vice Chair for Culture and Diversity. Monica leads a nationally recognized NIH-funded research program to reduce or eliminate health disparities through community-engaged research, and she chairs the Advancing Health Equity Priority Group of Jefferson County’s Health Action Partnership. As DOM Vice Chair, Monica will lead our efforts to develop a culture of respect and inclusion, working with each Division to capitalize on the diversity of our faculty, staff, and learners.

Brigitta Brott, MD (Cardiovascular Disease) and Timmy Lee, MD (Nephrology) are investigating new uses for a bionanomatrix to treat brain aneurysms and kidney disease thanks to $1 million in NIH Small Business Innovation Research Grants. 

Kudos to Jeremey Walker, MD (PGY-1) who exemplified Hippocrates’ quote to a man whose father recently passed away after a lengthy hospitalization, “Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.”

Second-year fellow Bryan Garcia, MD (Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine) received a grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to study the effect of the mucolytic PAAG on Pseudomonas infected respiratory epithelium. His mentor is Steven Rowe, MD.

Postdoctoral scholar Malgorzata Kasztan, PhD (Nephrology) has been awarded the American Society of Nephrology’s Ben J. Lipps Research Fellowship Award. Her mentor is David Pollock, PhD.

Jefferson County, and its Health Officer Mark Wilson, MD, recently received positive press in this New York Times article about geography and life expectancy. 

There is still time for you to help the UAB Benevolent Fund reach its $2 million campaign goal. Gifts of every size make a difference across our campus and community.

The UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center is hosting its 7th Annual UAB Diabetes Research Day on Tuesday, May 3, at the Doubletree Hotel. There is no cost to attend, and registration has been extended through Friday, April 29! 

Next week, the 2016 UAB Nurses Week Talent Show will be held in place of our regularly scheduled lecture. Medical Grand Rounds will resume on May 11.

Do you have Good News to share? If so, please email the Department of Medicine's Director of Communications, Carolyn Walsh.

View This Week's Slides Here.