From the Heart

Sumanth D. Prabhu, M.D., the new director of the Division of Cardiovascular Disease in the UAB School of Medicine, intends to invest in advances, establishing specialized programs of excellence focused on the newest techniques in heart failure, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, cardiac imaging, preventive cardiology/hypertension, and other areas. Prabhu came to UAB from the University of Louisville, where he was a professor and university scholar in cardiovascular medicine and physiology and biophysics. HIs research focuses on pathophysiological mechanisms in heart failure, including left ventricular/myocardial function, chamber remodeling, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

Foreign Affairs

Serge Bokobza, Ph.D., who has been an associate professor of French literature and cinema studies at UAB since 1986, has been named chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Bokobza specializes in 19th and 20th century French literature, the history of cinema, and Jewish studies; he is also the president of the Alliance Française of Birmingham. He has written a book on the writer Stendhal and produced a documentary on French prime minister Léon Blum.

Stage Manager

Kelly Allison, M.F.A., has taught scene, lighting, and costume design at the American University in Cairo, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and several other schools, including the past 13 years at UAB, where his students have won regional and national awards. Now he is taking on a new role as chair of the UAB Department of Theatre. “Like many arts programs, we face challenges, but the bones are in place to realize something truly special in theater training” at UAB, Allison says. “We have an outstanding theater faculty, and the students in the program are collectively the brightest I’ve known.”

In Memoriam

Fain Guthrie, Ph.D., the first dean of the UAB School of Education who trained hundreds of Alabama teachers, passed away on July 7, 2011, at age 82. Guthrie came to UAB in 1968 as the director of the university’s new division of education. The division became a school in 1971, and Guthrie served as dean until he retired in 1983. “He made teaching an art form,” recalls Joan Dawson, a former student who now co-directs the Alabama Hands-On Activity Science Program at UAB. “He was a master teacher, and a funny storyteller. He made us think and want to learn more."