UAB’s impact across the state during 2024 — and what’s next for 2025

In 2024, the University of Alabama at Birmingham reached unprecedented heights in growth and impact, aligning with its strategic plan, Forging Ahead, to positively transform lives across Alabama and beyond through education, research, innovation and economic development, community engagement, and patient care.

UAB is treating more patients than ever before, conducting transformative research that enhances health, quality of life and economic development and continually improving the health and revitalization of neighborhoods. The university also provided educational opportunities to almost 21,000 students this past fall, helping to build the next generation of leaders in business, entrepreneurship, engineering, health care, public health, education, liberal arts, sciences and other fields.

Here are some of the remarkable achievements that took place on campus, in Birmingham and across the state of Alabama this year — and a glance at what is ahead in 2025.  

Across Alabama

In January, the UAB Health System and Infirmary Health entered a relationship to bring collaborative, comprehensive cancer services from the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center to patients in southern Alabama, southeast Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle. The result of a multi-year planning effort on behalf of the leadership of the two organizations, this partnership was born with the goal of decreasing the burden of cancer, improving outcomes, and expanding cancer scientific discovery through an increased footprint and resources of both organizations.

The UAB School of Dentistry celebrated the opening of UAB Dentistry Dothan with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Feb. 26. UAB Dentistry Dothan is a first-of-its-kind satellite dentistry clinic designed to recruit, educate, train and retain dentists to help improve the dental health of those living in Alabama’s Wiregrass region.

This spring, UAB partnered with the Children’s Policy Council of Jefferson County to provide the CPC’s second children’s book vending machine at Bessemer Family Court. The children’s book vending machine is located on the second-floor family waiting area and provides age-appropriate books at no cost to families. UAB professors and teacher candidates provide guidance on the selection of book titles along with additional family resources to support reading.

UAB partnered with Whitfield Regional Hospital in June to launch the first UAB Tele-Intensive Care Unit expanded hospital. With this collaboration, Whitfield now has access to 24-hour Tele-ICU support including a team of experienced ICU nurses and tele-intensivists stationed at UAB. The Tele-ICU allows patients to receive vital care closer to their homes, saving valuable time and extending much-needed services.

UAB Medical West, an affiliate of the UAB Health System completed its new facility and celebrated with a ribbon-cutting July 11. It began the transition from the former hospital location, where UAB Medical West has been since 1964, to the new state-of-the-art, full-service hospital. 

UAB and Alabama Department of Public Health launched a new system aimed at improving Alabama’s stroke response. Leveraging the existing Alabama Trauma and Statewide Stroke systems, they created a model for a more integrated and effective system of emergency stroke care. The implementation of the new model in all six of the emergency medical services regions in the state was completed in October 2024.

In a groundbreaking effort to address the special education teacher shortage, the UAB School of Education and Human Sciences partnered with Hoover City Schools to launch a “grow your own” initiative. In fall 2024, a cohort of Hoover teachers began a specialized Master of Education program at UAB, supported by scholarships and partial reimbursement from Hoover City Schools. 

In Birmingham

In January, UAB Sports and Exercise Medicine became the official sports medicine provider for Lawson State Community College. 

Live HealthSmart Alabama, an initiative of UAB, completed community improvements in the East Lake neighborhood of Birmingham and held a ribbon-cutting May 22.

Also in May, UAB Medicine celebrated the relocation and expansion of services of its primary care clinic in the Birmingham area with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new clinic location in Lee Branch. The staff at UAB Medicine Lee Branch Primary and Specialty Care sees adult patients for a wide range of non-emergency medical conditions.

The UAB Department of Pediatrics partnered with Birmingham City Schools during the spring semester to expand the UAB Mini Medical School. The program provides a series of virtual and in-person experiences to increase middle school students’ exposure to science, technology, engineering and math careers, with a particular focus on health care.

This spring, UAB partnered with Bama Wellness Advocacy to launch a revolutionary nutrition program for athletes in Birmingham City Schools. The new program emphasizes the significance of proper nutrition, as well as the importance of self-wellness factors such as sleep, ultimately aiming to enhance the overall performance and well-being of student-athletes.

UAB opened a new Oral Surgery Clinic at UAB Medicine Inverness located at 1 Inverness Center Parkway, Suite 200, this fall. The clinic offers a variety of elective dental and oral surgery services, including wisdom teeth removal, dental implants, IV anesthesia, bone grafting, in-office CT scans, tooth extractions and impacted teeth removal.

As of Nov. 1, 2024, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System Authority assumed ownership of Ascension St. Vincent’s Health System, now officially UAB St. Vincent’s, in central Alabama to sustain patients’ access to the highest-quality care in Birmingham and surrounding communities. 

The UAB Health System Authority now owns Ascension St. Vincent’s sites of care, including the hospitals at Birmingham, Blount, Chilton, East and St. Clair, as well as the One Nineteen Campus, the Trussville Freestanding Emergency Department, and imaging centers and other clinics that are part of Ascension Medical Group. The transaction includes Ascension St. Vincent’s services, facilities, caregivers and associates, including a robust network of providers serving the region.

A new ambulatory care facility joined the Birmingham skyline when Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority, an affiliate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System, held a ribbon-cutting Wednesday, Nov. 20, for the new Cooper Green outpatient clinic. 

At UAB

In December 2023, longtime University of Alabama at Birmingham supporter Marnix E. Heersink, M.D., committed an additional $5 million to his transformational $95 million gift that named the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine in 2021, bringing the total naming gift to $100 million.

The gift, which also named the Marnix E. Heersink Institute of Biomedical Innovation and the Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health, was already the single largest philanthropic commitment in university history, and it will now have even greater impact. 

This spring, the new UAB Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities opened and integrates clinical service, training and research to support individuals and families impacted by developmental disabilities in Alabama and beyond. 

UAB celebrated the opening of the UAB Brain Aging and Memory Hub on April 19. The effort was made possible by the UAB Health System and the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine. 

UAB celebrated the opening of its Early Learning Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 30. The new facility, located at 10th Avenue South and 11th Street between the Education and Engineering Complex and Birmingham City School’s EPIC Alternative Elementary, directly supports faculty and staff success.

UAB expanded opportunities for homeownership in North Titusville for its employees through Blazer Home, a five-year pilot program that began in August 2024. 

This fall, Ted W. Love, M.D., former president and CEO of Global Blood Therapeutics, and Joyce Y. Love pledged $5 million to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine to establish the Ted W. Love, M.D., and Joyce Y. Love Endowed Support Fund for Sickle Cell Disease in the Lifespan Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center.  

This endowment will enhance the center’s impact in vital initiatives focused on helping individuals with sickle cell disease live healthier lives with fewer disease-related complications.  

UAB continued implementing its strategic plan and Campus Master Plan by building new facilities. On Sept. 20, UAB hosted a ribbon-cutting for its Student Assembly Building –– a new home for UAB’s registered student organizations­­.

UAB men’s basketball captured the American Athletic Conference Tournament title in its first season in the league with the 85-69 victory over Temple in March. The win punched the team’s ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last three seasons.

Looking ahead to 2025

UAB will continue construction on a new eight-story, $190 million facility for the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine and College of Arts and Sciences. Construction is expected to be complete by early 2027. 

The Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building and the Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation Conference Center is slated to open in 2025. The project is funded by a combination of philanthropy gifts from the UAB donors Altec/Styslinger Foundation and Marnix and Mary Heersink, $50 million from the state of Alabama via the Public School and College Authority, and an additional $5 million from Jefferson County.

Construction is expected to be complete in the summer of 2025 for the new Gorrie Hall, part of the Science and Engineering Complex. It will be home to the School of Engineering and the new facility that will support its goals of attracting faculty, increasing grant funding and training the next generation of engineers.  

UAB’s new inpatient rehabilitation facility is slated to open in 2025. The $156.7 million, 350,000-square-foot project will replace the existing Spain Rehabilitation Center. The building will be 11 stories tall and will hold 78 rehabilitation beds, 28 acute care beds, and state-of-the-art technology specifically designed to provide comprehensive rehabilitation care for patients from across Alabama and beyond.

UAB Hospital hopes to continue expanding the University Emergency Department in 2025. The long-term plans for the $73 million expansion of UED will include 66,030 square feet of new construction, including 59 new exam rooms and additional imaging capacity for emergency clinical care. Design of the expansion is continuing.

Live HealthSmart Alabama will host a ribbon-cutting for the Phase 1 completion of community improvements in Selma in February 2025.

UAB affiliate Southern Research’s flagship biotech center will anchor the development of 117,000 square feet of space with four floors and a basement, including new wet lab space for life sciences. Construction began in 2022 and is expected to finish in the third quarter of 2025.