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The School of Health Professions (SHP) Student Awards, for the fall semester of 2020, were managed by the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) with endorsement from the Program Directors. Due to COVID-19, we were not able to recognize our exceptional students with an award ceremony. Nonetheless, it does not diminish their excellence or their accomplishments.

The UAB School of Health Professions has partnered with the School of Medicine and the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB to offer a one-year post-graduation fellowship to a student in the M.S. in Genetic Counseling program. The fellowship will provide advanced clinical training, research and teaching opportunities in the area of cancer genetic counseling.  The student who is selected for the position will have full tuition support, be employed by the UAB Department of Genetics, and earn an educational stipend during the fellowship year in exchange for a four-year post-graduation commitment to work at UAB.

Many members of the School of Health Professions made service and service-learning a priority at the end of 2020. The SHP Staff Council hosted an SHP-wide holiday drive and the freshman course HRP 101: Experiencing the University Transition for Health Professions saw 14 teams of students support 11 community partners.

Krystle Glasgow, CNMT, NMTCB(CT), NMAA, a teacher in the UAB School of Health Professions, has been recognized as a Fellow by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging – Technologist Section. She is one of only three in the state of Alabama to earn the prestigious honor.

On December 2, 2020, Dina V. Avery, DHSc, MA, MAEd, was elected chairperson of the Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition. The ACCCC is a statewide network of physicians, organizations, medical groups, cancer patients, cancer survivors and more. They are dedicated to reducing the incidence, morbidity and mortality of cancer in Alabama.

Emily Caffrey, Ph.D., supervised practice coordinator and adjunct faculty member of the UAB M.S. in Health Physics program, is the recipient of the 2020 Elda E. Anderson Award. At the age of 31, she is the youngest member of the Health Physics Society to earn the honor that has been delivered every year since 1962.

The Physician Assistant Education Association delivered awards to the UAB Physician Assistant Studies Program, Program Director Tosi Gilford, MD, PA-C, and to student Amber Rohrberg.

Benjamin Abney, a Physician Assistant Studies student expected to graduate December 2021, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to five SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, there were nearly 100 submissions to the question: What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Kathy Nugent, Ph.D., has been named chair of the Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences (CDS) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions. Nugent is a leader in technology and research commercialization who has been associate vice president and executive director of the UAB Harbert Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HIIE) since 2014.

The UAB School of Health Professions had seven undergraduate students - all in the B.S. in Biomedical Sciences program - earn honors at the 2019 UAB EXPO. Every semester the EXPO celebrates excellence in research, creative activity and scholarship by showcasing the academic endeavors of undergraduate students in nine categories for oral and poster presentations.

Five members of the UAB School of Health Professions faculty earned certificates for completing the National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy (NIXLA). Members of the Class of 2019 are Dina Avery, DHSc, Brenda Bertrand, Ph.D., April Rollins-Kyle, MAEd, Sarah Tucker, Ph.D., and Neena Xavier, M.D.

The UAB School of Health Professions has five people on the 2019 Birmingham Business Journal Most Influential Executives list.

Floyd Josephat, EdD, MT(ASCP), program director, UAB School of Health Professions' M.S. in Clinical Laboratory Sciences (MSCLS) program, conducted a workshop on Real Life Case Study at the Caribbean Association of Medical Technologists National Symposium in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Real Life Case Study is a unique teaching strategy and empirical inquiry that allows students to investigate diseases within its real-life context. It provides students the opportunity to work on these cases simultaneously as physicians and other members of the healthcare team are working on the same cases.

In his presentation, Josephat stressed the benefit of integrating this technique into the classroom and explained how he implemented it into the UAB MSCLS program. He says teaching this technique accomplishes three specific things:

1. Requires students think critically about the situation.
2. Prepares students to apply decision-making to real-life situations.
3. Develops students’ research skills.

Josephat, who presented to an international group of Clinical Laboratory Scientists, Medical Technologists, Cytotechnologists and Physicians, also pointed out that the program better prepares students to solve or address disease processes by making sense of information using creative, intuitive, logical and analytical mental processes.

For the third year in a row, a team from our Physician Assistant Studies program wins the UAB Gurney Derby!

Andrew Butler, Ph.D., dean of the UAB School of Health Professions, was recently elected to the Lakeshore Foundation and the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions Board of Directors. Butler, who became dean of SHP in July 2019, came to UAB from the Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions at Georgia State University where he was associate dean for Research and director of the Clinical Neuroplasticity Lab.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham launches the pilot class of the UAB Healthcare Educators Academy at an opening ceremony and reception on September 17, 2019. The HEA is a strategic partnership between the UAB Schools of Medicine, Health Professions, Dentistry, Public Health and Nursing designed to strengthen educators through mentorship that fosters a culture of excellence, develops innovative teaching resources and advances a collaborative environment.

Kayla Stinson, a UAB School of Health Professions’ M.S. in Health Physics second-year student, was awarded a prize for her research presentation at the Health Physics Society annual meeting on July 7, 2019.

Krystle Glasgow, MIS, CNMT, NMTCB(CT), NMAA, clinical coordinator and teacher in the UAB School of Health Professions’ M.S. in Nuclear Medicine Technology (NMT) program, has been named to the Society of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging’s (SNMMI) inaugural “Ones to Watch” list.

Kara Arnold, Sean Maleknia, and Hallie Taylor, third-year students in the UAB School of Health Professions’ Physician Assistant program placed 4^th at the American Academy of Physician Assistant’s 2019 National Medical Challenge Bowl. This is the second time in the past four years that the UAB PA team reached the Final Round.

 The University of Alabama at Birmingham has named Andrew J. Butler, MPT, MBA, Ph.D., dean of the UAB School of Health Professions following a national search.