UAB's Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Program led by Keith Wille, MD (Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine) has received the Gold Level Award for Excellence in Life Support, designating UAB Hospital as a leader in caring for patients who require this long-term breathing and heart support. The recognition comes from Extracorporeal Life Support Organization, an international non-profit consortium of health care institutions who are dedicated to the development and evaluation of novel therapies for support of failing organ systems.

David O. Freedman, MD (Infectious Diseases) recently led a panel discussion on the impact of mobile populations in the tourism and trade sectors on the spread of disease outbreaks at a ministerial level World Health Organization summit on Global Health Security in Indonesia. 260 delegates from 60 countries, including 10 Ministers or Deputy-Ministers of Health attended.

Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH (Director, Infectious Diseases) was recently featured on Healio.com highlighting her presentation at the ASM Microbe 2016 Conference. Her address focused on current trends in sexually transmitted infections among patients with HIV, including “really explosive numbers of syphilis cases.”

S. Louis Bridges, Jr., MD, PhD (Director, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology) moderated the Rheumatology Research Foundation’s Partners in Rheumatology 2016 Leadership Summit which was attended by representatives from the ACR, ARHP, NIAMS, PCORI, Arthritis Foundation, Alliance for Lupus Research, Osteoarthritis Research Society International, and other non-profit funding agencies.  

J. Nicholas Dionne-Odom, PhD (Center for Palliative and Supportive Care) has received a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute of Nursing Research to develop a palliative care health coaching program for family caregivers of persons with advanced cancer.

Peter Pappas, MD (Infectious Diseases) has been appointed Associate Editor of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Three Department of Medicine faculty members have earned 2016 Kreisberg Awards for Faculty Development: Monica Agarwal, MD (Endocrinology) Gaurav Jain, MD (Nephrology) and Stephen Russell, MD (General Internal Medicine). The awards were established in 2012 in honor of esteemed UAB endocrinologist Robert A. Kreisberg, MD, MACP, one of the Department’s most legendary clinician-educators.

Laura Gallitz (Preventive Medicine) has been selected UAB’s Employee of the Month. She brings a high degree of energy, commitment, flexibility and professionalism to her role as administrative assistant for five statisticians.

Medical Grand Rounds is now on summer hiatus. Our next lecture will be a special "Organizing for Success" presentation by Manatt Health's Tom Enders on July 13, 2016, at 11:30 a.m.