John F. Kearney, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and Endowed Professor in Immunology in the Department of Microbiology, will be honored for five decades of service to UAB on April 8.

Mahmood Abdul Gahni, Danny Lee and Tim Walker are the first 2025 honorees in the UAB Shared Values in Action Program. Nominations for second-quarter honorees are open through April 16.

Getting a good start is critical, as is exercise, building community and more.

Three hundred employees with 20 or more years of service will be honored during a reception April 8. John F. Kearney, Ph.D., will be honored for 50 years of service to UAB.

Kathy Nugent, Ph.D., executive director of the UAB Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, will lead efforts to advance and align biotechnology research, innovation and commercialization, driving economic development and job creation in Birmingham and across Alabama. 

The UAB SUCCESS Initiative honors Eric Ford, Ph.D., professor in the School of Public Health and chair of the UAB Faculty Senate, for going above and beyond in shaping the student experience at UAB. Champions will be selected quarterly by the initiative’s executive steering committee.

Alumnus Andy Hollis, who currently serves as interim chief financial officer and associate vice president for Financial Affairs, has been named CFO effective March 1. 

Nancy Parsons, administrative support specialist in the School of Dentistry, is the recipient of the 2024 President’s Award for Shared Values. In this story, Parsons shares why she is always ready to help new hires figure out UAB, and tips on getting the most out of working here.

Fran Lund, Ph.D., an internationally recognized scientist who has uncovered crucial additional roles for the immune system’s antibody-generating B cells, has been selected for the academic medical center’s highest faculty honor. Learn more about her career and current work in immune memory in this article.

Bradley Barnes, Ph.D., joined UAB in 2017 as vice provost for enrollment management. His new role will focus on integrating and improving student experience.

After an extensive national search, UAB has appointed David Kimberlin, M.D., as associate vice president for Clinical Trial Operations, effective Jan. 1, 2025.

Built by 217 Blazer volunteers, the Bessemer home was dedicated with a ceremony Dec. 6, allowing the Coach family to move in before the holidays.

Lakonja Billups, Bernice Dunklin and Timothy Sherrer are the fourth-quarter 2024 honorees of the UAB Shared Values in Action Program. Nominations for first-quarter 2025 honorees are open through Jan. 22.

Through an internship with UAB HR Talent Acquisition, Birmingham City Schools student Kendall Petties gained skills and experience and helped inform UAB’s employee recruitment and retention efforts.

Lisa Willett, M.D., MACM, has been awarded the 2024 Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching. This annual award, hosted by the UAB Office of the Provost, celebrates a UAB faculty member who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to teaching.

After an extensive national search, UAB has named Kevyn E. Merten, Ph.D., as the senior associate vice president for Research Operations, effective Jan. 14. Merten will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Office of Research. He joins UAB from the University of Louisville.

Innovative programs and a high-profile position in the International Health Promoting Campuses Network have made UAB a model for other universities in the United States and beyond.

Cora Brasfield Causey, Ph.D., assistant professor in the School of Education and Human Sciences, is the recipient of the 2024 Odessa Woolfolk Community Service Award. This prestigious award, hosted by the UAB Office of the Provost, recognizes a UAB faculty member who has rendered outstanding service to the Birmingham community.

James Rimmer, Ph.D., professor and inaugural Lakeshore Foundation Endowed Chair in Health Promotion and Rehabilitation Sciences in the School of Health Professions, has earned the 2024 Sam Brown Bridge Builder Award, which recognizes a UAB faculty member who engages in interdisciplinary, collaborative efforts across campus.

Christian Lopez Blanco, a doctoral student in UAB’s neuroengineering program, pitched his idea to industry leaders at the major BIO convention in San Diego as part of the Bio-Entrepreneurship Capstone program from the National Institutes of Health.

Michele Forman, Samantha Giordano-Mooga and Joe March demonstrated extraordinary commitment to engaging undergraduate students in service learning, undergraduate research and core teaching.

The 2024 honorees for the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching represent each school, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Honors College, and the Graduate School.

Peter Bosworth, Lakesha Johnson and Lee O’Neil are the third-quarter 2024 honorees of the UAB Shared Values in Action Program, which honors those whose work exemplifies and embodies Forging Ahead’s shared values. Nominations for fourth-quarter 2024 honorees are open through Oct. 9.

UAB Chief Financial Officer Stephanie Mullins will serve as UAB’s inaugural Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, effective Oct. 1.

“Collaborate” and “Excel” are two of UAB’s four Shared Values: We CARE. Brad Steele, J.D., grants and contracts officer in the Office of Sponsored Programs, is an example of those values in action. Steele was recently selected for the Future of the Field award from the Society of Research Administrators International. Here is why.

Through an internship with UAB HR Talent Acquisition, Birmingham City Schools student Jaykease Rosales gained skills and experience and proved to be a strong asset to UAB’s employee recruitment and retention efforts.

John Huffstutler, Nancy Parsons and Angel Simmons are the second-quarter 2024 honorees of the UAB Values in Action Program. Nominations for third-quarter 2024 honorees are open through July 11.

The UA System Board of Trustees awarded the rank of Distinguished Professor to Robert Brunner, Yogesh Dwivedi, Helen Krontiras, Cora Elizabeth Lewis, David M. Morris and Michele H. Nichols and the rank of University Professor to Marie Bakitas, Mirjam-Colette Kempf, Verna Keith, Michael Neiderweis and David Vance during its meeting in April 2024.

Have AI models made human creativity obsolete? Lindsay Brainard, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy, received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to pursue an inquiry into the future of creativity — and present her work at the World Congress of Philosophy in Rome this August.

Nicolaas Geurs, D.D.S., M.S., inaugural holder of UAB's Weatherford-Palcanis Endowed Professorship in Dentistry and the Dental Alumni-Joseph F. Volker Chair of Clinical Dentistry, has been selected as the next dean of the UAB School of Dentistry following a national search. He will begin his new role June 1.