UAB will honor four local women as the UAB Outstanding Women for 2007 during a ceremony Thursday, March 8 at 4:30 p.m. in the Bartow Arena Green and Gold Room.

The UAB Women’s Center and the UAB Women’s Studies Program present the awards annually during Women’s History Month. The awards are designed to honor female members of the UAB community and the Birmingham community at large who have mentored or served other women, taken a courageous stance or overcome adversity. Candidates for the award are nominated by Birmingham residents and selected by a committee of university women.

The 2007 winners are: Outstanding Woman UAB Faculty Member Ona Faye-Petersen, M.D.; and Outstanding Woman UAB Student Britany Matin. Two women, Cameron Vowell, Ph.D., and Lori Livingston, will receive the Outstanding Woman in the Community Award.

Faye-Petersen, winner of the Outstanding Woman UAB Faculty Member Award, is an associate professor in the UAB Department of Pathology specializing in embryo, fetal and placental pathology. In her department, she founded the Women in Pathology support group. Women in Pathology is designed to support the development of women faculty and trainees. Faye-Petersen also spearheaded a clothing drive, the “Suits for Success” program, organized by the UAB Commission on the Status of Women. Through the drive, donations of women’s business clothing were made to the YWCA’s Our Sister’s Closet program that helps women re-entering the workforce.

Matin, 20, of Auburn, is the Outstanding Woman UAB Student. She is a junior chemistry major in the School of Natural Sciences & Mathematics. Matin founded a volunteer group called Dental Outreach Care (DOC) through which volunteers visit several Birmingham schools to teach proper dental hygiene to fourth- and fifth-graders. She also has been active as president of the UAB Ambassadors.

Vowell, one of the Outstanding Woman in the Community award winners, helped found the Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham. She also helped found the Alabama Women’s Initiative. Vowell chairs the UAB Center for Aging Board of Counselors, working to bring attention to issues affecting the elderly in the community. She also is recognized for her philanthropy and support toward the creation of the William Clifford and Margaret Spain McDonald Clinic. The clinic houses patient care services offered by the Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine at UAB.

Livingston, who also is receiving the Outstanding Woman in the Community Award, is founder of the Norma Livingston Ovarian Cancer Foundation.