Tamera Coyne-Beasley, M.D., Adolescent Medicine, has been elected to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) Board of Directors. The Birmingham City Council approved the new Board slate at the August 27th regular meeting. The Board will assist the BCRI will its strategic plan and mission. Dr. Coyne-Beasley looks forward to assisting in the strategic mission of the BCRI which is to “enlighten each generation about civil and human rights by exploring our common past and working together in the present to build a better future.”
Dr. Coyne-Beasley joins 18 other community leaders including: Cassandra W. Adams, Samford University, Cumberland School of Law; Nyesha Cheyenne Black, PhD., Noire Analytics; William H. Burgess III, The Burgess Group; Yolanda Clayton, Alabama State University & Alabama A&M University/Clayton and Associates, LLC; Robert Dickerson, Birmingham Resource Center; Daryl R. Grant, KPMG Advisory Services; Rosilyn Houston, BBVA USA; Danny Markstein, Markstein; Angela D. McKenzie, Regions Bank; J. John Oros Jr., Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau; Jonathan Porter, Alabama Power; Richard A. Rice, The Rice Firm, LLC; John D. Saxon, John D. Saxon, P.C.; David A. Thomas, Starbucks; Rev. Gwendolyn C. Webb, Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church/Foot Soldiers International, Inc.; and Rev. Thomas L. Wilder Jr., Bethel Baptist Church.
Amy CaJacob, M.D., Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, will serve as the president of the Alabama Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology for the 2019-2020 term. In 2020, the Alabama Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology will be celebrating its 41st year. One of Dr. CaJacob's major responsibilities as president is planning the annual conference. "Our largest event is an annual conference in Sandestin, Florida with nationwide representation. I am looking forward to planning a successful, diverse meeting focused on food allergy, oral immunotherapy and eosinophilic gastroenteropathies," said Dr. CaJacob.
Congratulations Dr. CaJacob!
The UAB Department of Pediatrics welcomes four new faculty members during the month of August. Please join us in making them feel at home!
Vanessa Cardenas Soto, M.D., Assistant Professor in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Adnan Haque, M.D., Instructor in Academic General Pediatrics
Samantha Hill, M.D., Instructor in Adolescent Medicine
Kathryn Lalor, M.D., Assistant Professor in Pediatric Neurology
Vanessa Cardenas Soto, M.D., Assistant Professor in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, earned her medical degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. Cardenas completed her pediatric residency and pediatric gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Michigan. She has a special interest in quality improvement and completed the Patient Safety and Quality Leadership Scholars Program during her fellowship. Her research experience has been focused on Drug-Induced Liver Injury in pediatric oncology patients. Her clinical interest is in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and she has worked on developing several protocols for the University of Michigan IBD program to improve the delivery of care of these patients.
Adnan Haque, M.D., Instructor in Academic General Pediatrics, earned his medical degree from New York University in New York, New York. Dr. Haque completed his pediatric residency at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
Samantha Hill, M.D. Instructor in Adolescent Medicine, earned her medical degree at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Hill completed her pediatric residency at Thomas Jefferson University/AI duPont Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/Wilmington, Delaware and her adolescent medicine fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Additionally, she received a Masters of Public Health focusing on health policy from UAB. Her other clinical interests include advocating for the health and wellbeing of adolescents and young adults, contraceptive management with a focus on long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), HIV treatment, and HIV prevention with a specific focus on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. Her research interests include improving uptake and adherence to PrEP and as well as uptake of LARCs for adolescents and young adults in the Deep South.
Kathryn Lalor, M.D. Assistant Professor in Pediatric Neurology, earned her medical degree at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. Dr. Lalor completed her pediatric residency and child neurology residency at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Richard Whitley, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Diseases, has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) John P. Utz Leadership Award. This award recognizes Dr. Whitley's leadership in the field of clinical virology and infectious diseases. “Johnathan Utz has been a hero in infectious diseases. All of us who practice this specialty emulate his contributions. This is very much of an honor," Dr. Whitley said about receiving this award.
The John P. Utz Leadership Award was established by the NFID in 2007 as a lasting memorial to the late John P. Utz, MD, a champion in the fight against infectious diseases. The award is presented to individuals who exemplify leadership in the field of infectious diseases, as selected by the NFID Board of Directors. Previous recipients include Drs. L Pickering. R. Besser, A. Schuchat, C. Baker, W. Schnaffer, among others.
The award will be presented on Monday, Dec. 14 at the virtual 2020 Awards Gala. Learn more about the other awardees here.
Congratulations Dr. Whitley!
Congratulations to Tamera Coyne-Beasley, M.D., Adolescent Medicine, and Matthew Kutny, M.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, on being accepted into the UAB Healthcare Leadership Academy (HLA). The HLA is a collaboration between the Collat School of Business and the School of Medicine. The program offers training opportunities and develops leadership skills essential to academic healthcare. 24 members were accepted into the academy for the 2019-2020 class and represent a well-balanced and diverse group. The program will begin in October 2019 and conclude in May 2020.
Donna Murdaugh, Ph.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and Brandi Pernell, DNP, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, are part of the latest six-member cohort of Scholars for the Deep South Mentored Career Development (KL2) awarded this summer by the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS).
Selected through a rigorous, competitive process, Scholars enroll in an educational program, usually the MSPH in Clinical and Translational Science, and also conduct mentored research apprenticeship with a primary mentor. Designed for junior faculty in a clinical or related discipline, the CCTS KL2 program aims to provide knowledge, experience, and perspective to candidates who show promise for becoming independent investigators. A key component of the program is protected time, typically two years, to allow both formal training and conducting hands-on research.
Read more about the program here
Aubrey Coleman, M.D., PGY-2, Pediatrics Resident, was selected to serve on the 19/20 Resolution Task Force of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Pediatric Trainees (SOPT). As part of her role on the task force, Dr. Coleman will attend the Annual Leadership Forum in March 2020. While on the task force, she will participate in the entire resolution process from the beginning of the idea to the adoption of the resolution at the Annual Leadership Forum. She will serve on the task force from July 2019 to March 2020.
Nazia Kabani, M.D., Third Year Fellow, Combined Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Neonatology, Tennille Webb, M.D., Pediatric Nephrology, and Michael Lopez, M.D., Ph.D., Pediatric Neurology, receive Loan Repayment Program (LRP) awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr. Kabani receives her award through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Dr. Webb receives her award through the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Dr. Lopez receives his award through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. These awards are for a period of two years.
According to the LRP website, "The NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) are a set of programs established by Congress and designed to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers. The escalating costs of advanced education and training in medicine and clinical specialties are forcing some scientists to abandon their research careers for higher-paying private industry or private practice careers.
The LRPs counteract that financial pressure by repaying up to $50,000 annually of a researcher's qualified educational debt in return for a commitment to engage in NIH mission-relevant research. Since tomorrow's medical breakthroughs will be made by investigators starting in their research careers today, the LRPs represent an important investment by NIH in the future of health discovery and the wellbeing of the Nation."
Heather Austin, Ph.D., Adolescent Medicine, is the recipient of the 2019 Dr. Helen L. Coons Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology Scholarship awarded by the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Austin, has been invited to serve a three-year term starting in 2020 on the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine Health Services- Mental Health Committee. She has also been offered the position of mentee in the UAB Healthcare Educators Academy.
Dr. Austin and her colleague, Dan Marullo, Ph.D., Pediatric Psychology, in the Behavioral Health Ireland Center at Children’s of Alabama have been appointed as liaisons to the American Psychological Association (APA) Deep Poverty Initiative. APA President Rosie Phillips Davis, Ph.D., ABPP, has made examining psychology’s role in ending deep poverty a key initiative of her presidential year. This initiative will establish ongoing collaboration between psychological science and the public and private sectors through advocacy efforts, user-friendly science-based resources and partnerships to effect population-level change. The American Psychological Association proposes moving beyond understanding causes and consequences of poverty - towards using psychological science as a catalyst to address and help solve deep poverty. Please visit the American Psychological Association website for more details.