February 9, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - William W. Andrews, M.D., Ph.D. professor and director of the UAB Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has been named to the Charles E. Flowers, Jr. Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UAB.

Andrews has been with UAB since 1990 and has been the director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Infectious Disease Research Laboratory since its creation in 1990.

His research interests include obstetrical infections and infection-related preterm birth, and he is the UAB co-principal investigator of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network. He previously served as the principal investigator for this research network. He also serves as the UAB principle investigator for the NICHD-funded Genomics and Proteomics Network for Preterm Birth Research. 

Andrews is a co-investigator on numerous other interdisciplinary projects related to genital tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases and preterm birth, and he is a co-investigator within the International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN).

Andrews has received numerous honors and awards recently including the inaugural March of Dimes Award for Excellence in Research on Prematurity. His academic research has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The Charles E. Flowers Jr. Endowed Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology is named in honor of the first full time chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UAB, Charles E. Flowers Jr., who served from 1969 to 1985.