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March 13, 2020—a date that changed everyone’s lives here in Alabama—was the date the Alabama Department of Public Health received its first positive test result for a case of the novel coronavirus, as well as the date Governor Kay Ivey declared a state public health emergency. As we embarked on the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alabama, we asked people from across the School of Medicine to take part in conversations about what they had learned from the past year, and what they see when they look ahead to the future. The following are excerpts of those conversations, which have been edited for clarity.

Eric Wallace, M.D., is the medical director of telehealth at UAB Medicine and an associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology. Kierstin Kennedy, M.D., MSHA, is the chief of Hospital Medicine and a clinical associate professor of Medicine. We asked Wallace and Kennedy to discuss the evolution of UAB’s clinical response over the past year, how the pandemic may change the practice of medicine moving forward, and challenges each physician faced while caring for patients during the pandemic.

As we embarked on the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alabama, we asked people from across the School of Medicine to take part in conversations about what they had learned from the past year, and what they see when they look ahead to the future. The following are excerpts of those conversations, which have been edited for clarity.

Fran Lund, Ph.D., is the Charles H. McCauley Professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology. In 2020, Lund led UAB’s preclinical testing of AdCOVID, a novel, single-dose, intranasal COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Altimmune Inc., which started Phase 1 clinical trials this year. Ellen Eaton, M.D., is assistant professor of Infectious Diseases and creator of the “Dr. Ellen Eaton Coronavirus Updates” Facebook page, which promotes evidence-informed updates on COVID prevention and treatment and amplifies best practices from experts. We asked them to discuss COVID vaccine development and combating misinformation around the virus and vaccines.

As we embarked on the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alabama, we asked people from across the School of Medicine to take part in conversations about what they had learned from the past year, and what they see when they look ahead to the future. The following are excerpts of those conversations, which have been edited for clarity.

Kevin Leon, M.D., is a professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine and serves as the associate dean of Undergraduate Medical Education for the School of Medicine. Aditi Jani, M.D., is a PGY-2 resident in UAB’s Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program. A native of Pelham, Alabama, and a UAB undergraduate and School of Medicine alumna, she was chosen as chief resident for 2022-2023. We asked them to discuss caring for COVID patients, the strain of being a resident and physician during the pandemic, and what the pandemic means for medical schools.

As we embarked on the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alabama, we asked people from across the School of Medicine to take part in conversations about what they had learned from the past year, and what they see when they look ahead to the future. The following are excerpts of those conversations, which have been edited for clarity.

Bianca Godwins is a rising third-year medical student who is enrolled in the school’s M.D./MBA dual degree program. During the pandemic, Godwins has managed a team of undergraduate, graduate, and medical students who work as contact-tracers as part of a program between the UAB School of Public Health and the Alabama Department of Public Health. Selwyn Vickers, M.D., FACS, is senior vice president of Medicine and dean of the UAB School of Medicine. He also serves as chair of The University of Alabama Health Services Foundation. A renowned surgeon, pancreatic cancer researcher, and pioneer in health disparities research, Vickers is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and in April started a term as president of the American Surgical Association. We asked Vickers and Godwins to discuss COVID19 and health disparities, what Godwins learned through contact tracing, leading during a pandemic, and what it’s been like to be a medical student during the pandemic.

Chaniece White WallaceThe first thing you notice about Chaniece White Wallace, M.D., in photos is her smile. It’s a radiant sunbeam illuminating the frame. It certainly brightened every patient room she entered.

And Wallace had plenty of reasons to smile. The Mobile native was following her passion to provide care to underserved communities and address the health disparities they face. She was the first in her family to graduate from college, and she shone brightly in the UAB School of Medicine’s Class of 2017, where she became a strong patient advocate who provided care with kindness and empathy. By the fall of 2020, she was chief resident in Pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Ahead of her lay a career as a primary care physician for children—and motherhood.

When it is not possible to get a severely injured patient to the hospital quickly enough, the best solution may be to bring the hospital to the patient. That was the thinking behind the development in 2019 of the UAB SWIFT Team (Surgical forWard Intervention for Trauma), which enables doctors to perform life-saving procedures directly at the scene.

This initiative was employed in the most dramatic fashion during the wee hours of January 25. After an EF-3 tornado ripped through the Birmingham suburb of Fultondale, a UAB trauma and emergency medicine team performed a leg amputation to free a man who was pinned underneath a massive oak tree that had fallen through his home.

Two new building projects are helping the School of Medicine keep pace with the latest approaches to medical training—and both are fueled by philanthropy. Medical students will benefit from planned renovations to Volker Hall, the campus hub of undergraduate medical training, while the health and well-being residents and fellows are the focus of a planned GME Wellness Resource Center, scheduled to begin construction inside UAB Hospital this summer.

Over the winter, UAB and the School of Medicine lost three towering figures. This special section honors the careers and lasting impact of Arnold Diethelm, M.D., Alan Dimick, M.D., and Charles “Scotty” McCallum Jr., DMD, M.D.

A collaboration between Children’s of Alabama and UAB Medicine is helping young adult patients with chronic and complex childhood medical conditions transition to adult health care. This can be difficult for both patients and their families due to medical and insurance changes.

The Alabama Statewide Area Healthcare Education Centers have initiated a partnership network in a statewide response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Alabama AHEC Network was formed to create a coalition of community partners from across the state by providing community-based training to teams involved with COVID-19 testing in rural and underserved Alabama.

Human genes have an impact on shaping our gut ecosystem. A large, international study by the MiBioGenconsortium, led by the University Medical Center Groningen, analyzed the common genetic factors that influence the composition of the human gut microbiome in more than 18,000 people. The results were published January 18 in the leading scientific magazine Nature Genetics. Haydeh Payami, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Neurology, and Zachary Wallen, a postdoctoral fellow in the Payami laboratory, were collaborating authors on the study.

It is called PAGER-CoV, and it promises to be an important tool in finding therapies for COVID-19. Simply put, PAGER-CoV isa database packed with nearly 12,000 (so far) pieces of genetic information on the SARS-CoV-2 virus, information that researchers and physicians can use to tailor treatments against the disease.

The UAB School of Medicine is once again undergoing the rigorous self-study process to gain re-accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME).

A key element of the UAB School of Medicine’s mission is to expand Alabama’s physician workforce. Recruiting a more inclusive and diverse student body is an important part of our strategy to achieve this goal. Embracing different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences not only enriches the learning environment; a more diverse physician workforce has the power to expand access to care and improve health.

For the past year, School of Medicine alumni have stepped forward in innumerable ways to help their patients, families, friends, and communities weather the pandemic. Here, we profile three alumni who showed extraordinary leadership amid a year of great unrest and uncertainty.

The road to better health runs more smoothly now in the Kingston and Titusville neighborhoods of Birmingham. Corporate supporters recently joined forces with UAB’s Live HealthSmart Alabama and the City of Birmingham to transform the “built environment” in the two neighborhoods to promote active, healthy lifestyles. That means residents are enjoying fresh new sidewalks, bike lanes, improved green spaces, and brighter streets, among other upgrades.

Sarah Silverstein Mackintosh doesn’t remember a life without diabetes, having been diagnosed at age 9. “You learn from a young age how to live with this disease, and that insulin isn’t a cure, it’s a form of life support,” she says. “Diabetes has shaped me to be the person I am today. I had to grow up pretty quickly to understand this disease.”

C. Glenn Cobbs, M.D., spent most of his career working to elevate both UAB and the city of Birmingham. Now UAB is doing the same for Cobbs by elevating the School of Medicine’s Endowed Professorship in Infectious Diseases bearing his name to an endowed chair level.

For many students dreaming of a career in medicine, the cost of medical school presents a formidable barrier. But Alabama desperately needs these eager young minds. As physicians, they could help lower other barriers in medicine—the ones patients face—by ensuring access to quality care in every community.

Shortly after Birmingham real estate executive Henry Ray joined the Parkinson Association of Alabama (PAA) Board of Directors, he approached PAA leaders about creating a new campaign to raise funds for the UAB Department of Neurology. Those efforts came to fruition in December 2020 when the PAA pledged a $515,000 gift to help advance the department’s research into Parkinson’s disease.

Shawn Galin, Ph.D., is a professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine and the director of UAB’s Office of Standardized Patient Education (OSPE). Galin has led the OSPE, housed within the Center for Interprofessional Education and Simulation, since 2015. Standardized patients are people trained to perform in clinical training scenarios—portraying history, physical exam findings, and emotional states of real patients—providing students with key experiential learning in a controlled and safe environment.