Cooper Pierce was just 13 years old when his doctors diagnosed him with pulmonary hypertension. He compares the condition to really bad asthma that would leave him breathless and blue from climbing a single flight of stairs. Thanks to the extraordinary care from doctors at UAB, including our own DOM Pulmonary Hypertension Team, Cooper was able to receive a heart, double lung transplant. Today, he's living his best life as a UAB student, and hopes his story will inspire others
More Good News for August 5, 2020
Tiffany Carson, PhD (Assistant Professor, Preventive Medicine) will lead both a randomized controlled trial of a stress management-enhanced behavioral weight loss intervention among adult black females and a study of diet on gut microbiota and other physiologic markers among racially diverse adults. Outstanding, Dr. Carson!
Tom Buford, PhD (Associate Professor, Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care) has been appointed director of the UAB Center for Exercise Medicine. In this new role, he aims to expand the breadth of exercise research from basic exercise biology to community health and sustainability. Well deserved, Dr. Buford!
Anath Shalev, MD (Professor, Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism) has discovered a novel small molecule that holds tremendous promise for treating diabetes. Her findings reported in Cell Metabolism demonstrate that the drug candidate effectively rescued mice from diabetes and improved glucose stability.
William Geisler, MD, MPH (Professor, Infectious Diseases) and colleagues recently received a pilot grant from the UAB Center for Women's Reproductive Health. His team will examine the prevalence of a bacterial infection among pregnant women in collaboration with the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Congrats, Dr. Geisler!
Thanks to contributions of over $400,000, ten additional research projects have been funded. Eight of the new studies will be led by DOM researchers: Drs. Anantharamiah, Curry, Erdmann, Fouad, Gaggar, Goepfert, Heath, Kobie, Morgan, Nahm, Overton, Russell, Smith, and Smythies. Good luck, all!
Shikha Mehta, MD (Associate Professor, Nephrology) and colleagues have published findings of a multi-center pilot directly comparing HIV Donor+/Recipient+ with HIV Donor‐/Recipient+ kidney transplantation. While overall outcomes were excellent, investigators caution that more research is warranted.
In this guest wellness column, Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo (Professor and Director, Infectious Diseases) describes the surprising emergence of emotion at a time she least expected it. The event revealed an important lesson for handling COVID stress: sharing our stories and learning from each other is vital to our well-being.