February 13, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) senior Ajay Kamireddi, 21, of Huntsville, has been named to the USA Today 2003 All-USA College Academic Third Team, a prestigious ranking as one of the top 60 college students in the United States. USA Today will publish the winners in a special section on Thursday, February 13.

Kamireddi is the son of Chandra and Indira Kamireddi of Huntsville. He graduated from Virgil I. Grissom High School in 1999. He captured a spot on the USA Today All-Academic High School Team the same year.

Kamireddi is a student in the Honors Program at UAB. He maintains a 4.0 grade point average as a philosophy major with a dual minor in biology and chemistry. He plans to attend medical school after graduation.

As a freshman, Kamireddi was admitted to the Early Medical School Acceptance Program (EMSAP). Last spring, he traveled to China and volunteered at the Ya Yuan Medical Clinic and at the Peking University Medical College to observe the differences between Western and Chinese medicine. He also worked with UAB Associate Professor Patricia Goode, M.D., in a research project on the effectiveness of alternative medicines in treating urge incontinence and with Alabama A&M University researcher Al Zipf, Ph.D., on a project using transgenic wheat DNA to create hybrid species of oats.

Kamireddi was a 2002 winner of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. He was the first UAB student to receive the scholarship. In 2001, he received the Ford Motor Company Undergraduate Student Award.

addition to his academic achievements, Kamireddi is former vice-president of the UAB Ambassadors, an elite group of students who work as official hosts and hostesses for UAB events. He is a former chairman of the Ambassador Advisory Council and past vice president of the Golden Key Honor Society. He has been a member of the UAB Philosophy Club and the Phi Sigma Biology Club. He also has been a volunteer with the shelter Bread and Roses and a mentor at Arrington Middle School.