Anand Iyer, M.D., will receive UAB's Outstanding Young Alumni Award at the 2018 Alumni Leadership and Recognition Awards on Friday, Sept. 28, at 11:30 a.m. at the Alumni House. In 2017 Anand received the UAB Young Alumni Rising Star Award from the National Alumni Society.
An Anniston native and valedictorian at The Donoho School, Iyer enrolled at UAB in the fall of 2003. As an undergraduate, he worked at the Birmingham VA Hospital and in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care. One of his early leadership roles was as Secretary of Alpha Lambda Delta Freshman Honor Society, of which he later was elected President. He was UAB's nominee for the Soros fellowship, the USA today All-USA College Academic Team and the Truman Award—for which he was a National Finalist.
An accomplished pianist, Iyer was mentored by UAB's Artist-in-Residence, Yakov Kasman, which was a rare distinction given that he was not a music major or minor. He volunteered his musical talents generously to the UAB Hospital's Music Therapy program. Iyer graduated summa cum laude with University Honors, Honors in Biology and a BS in Biology in May 2007. He was selected to give the undergraduate commencement address in spring 2007.
As a medical student at UAB, he was elected president of his medical school class. He obtained his medical degree in 2011 and delivered the medical school commencement speech that year. Iyer chose to remain at UAB for his residency and fellowship in pulmonary medicine, where he continued his research in COPD and focused on patient-centered outcomes and mixed-methods research. In 2015, Anand was named the 2015 Consultant of the Year in the UAB Emergency Medicine Residency Program. He was awarded the J. Claude Bennett Award for Excellence in Research by an associate fellow at the 32nd Annual Trainee Research Symposium in March of 2016.
In addition to his clinical responsibilities, Iyer was a post-doc trainee in UAB's Health Sciences, Outcomes, and Effectiveness Research Training Program. He was named one of three UAB PCOR K12 Scholars in UAB's K12 PCOR Career Development Program. His K12 project will explore perspectives on barriers and facilitators to palliative and supportive care in COPD. In 2016, Iyer was one of three recipients of the Palliative Research Enhancement Project awards from UAB's Center for Palliative and Supportive Care. He also completed an MSPH in Health Outcomes Research.
Currently, Iyer is an assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine. An expert clinician-scientist, he has an impressive array of publications. Iyer worked at Cooper Green Mercy Hospital as part of his medical residency and has re-established the ambulatory subspecialty pulmonary clinic at Cooper Green Mercy, which has brought much needed pulmonary care to a large indigent population in Jefferson County.