June 24, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Ursula Wesselmann, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Anesthesiology, has been named the Edward Ernst Endowed Professor in Anesthesiology. The appointment was approved by the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees.

Wesselmann is an international expert in pelvic health and neurological pain management. She came to UAB this year after spending more than a dozen years at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where she worked in neurology, surgery and related specialties.

Wesselmann co-chairs the pelvic pain subgroup of the International Association for the Study of Pain. Her research often focuses on chronic sexual pain due to pelvic or urologic abnormalities and disease.

She has become a leader in what is known as translational medicine, which means working to move scientific discoveries in the laboratory into clinical testing. She has written numerous studies, book chapters and is a noted author on neurophysiology.

Wesselmann earned her medical degree from Christian Albrecht's University in Kiel, Germany, and completed her residency training at the University of Chicago. She also completed fellowships at Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins Hospital before coming to UAB.