February 8, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama has appointed Thomas R. Vetter, M.D., M.P.H., the first recipient of the Maurice S. Albin Endowed Professorship in Anesthesiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

Vetter joined the UAB faculty as associate professor of anesthesiology and director of the Division of Pain Management in the Department of Anesthesiology last year. He also serves as an associate professor of Health Policy and Organization in the School of Public Health.

Before coming to UAB, Vetter served as medical director of the Riley Pain Center and director of the Anesthesia Pain Medicine Services at Riley Hospital for Children at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Ind. Vetter has published results of numerous studies and given nearly 100 lectures, symposia and workshops at national and international pain medicine specialty and anesthesiology meetings. He has served on many committees including the Pediatric Anesthesia Subcommittee of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the Publication Committee of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, and the Ohio Pain Advisory Committee on the Treatment of Intractable Pain for the Ohio Department of Health. He also served as a panel member of the Food and Drug Administration Anesthetic and Life Support Drugs Advisory Committee.

Vetter earned his A.B. degree from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio in 1980, his medical degree from Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio, in 1984, and his M.P.H. in Healthcare Outcomes Research and Management from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta in 2007.