Regina Benjamin

A New Voice for Health

The nation’s leading spokesperson on matters of public health was, mere months ago, a family physician in Bayou La Batre. Before that, she was a medical student at UAB. On October 29, School of Medicine graduate Regina Benjamin, M.D., was unanimously confirmed as U.S. surgeon general. “Dr. Regina Benjamin is a worthy and deserving choice to be surgeon general of the United States,” says School of Medicine dean Robert Rich, M.D. “She has demonstrated the finest qualities of the physician—as a teacher, a leader, and a healer.” Learn more about Benjamin's practice in Bayou La Batre in this profile.

Life, Liberty, Leadership

A researcher in the areas of political rights, gender politics, and citizenship; a lauded mentor; and a recipient of UAB’s President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, political science professor Wendy Gunther-Canada, Ph.D., is now chair of the UAB Department of Government. A member of the department since 1993, she serves as co-chair of the UAB Commission on the Status of Women and co-principal investigator of the UAB ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award.

Laser Sharp

For his distinguished record of success in the lab and the classroom, Sergey Mirov, Ph.D., has earned the 2009 Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Award for Scholarly Distinction. Mirov co-directs the UAB Center for Optical Sensors and Spectroscopies and has directed numerous projects and mentored dozens of students during his career at UAB. A further honor came in February, when Mirov was appointed University Professor of Physics at UAB.

Questions of Immunity

UAB microbiologist Suzanne Michalek, Ph.D., has gained international renown for her contributions to microbiology, immunology, and dental research. Her newest recognition comes a bit closer to home. As the 2009 UAB Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, Michalek was honored with a dinner at which she delivered an address titled “UAB and Mucosal Immunology: Past, Present, and Future.”

Excellence in Action

Skill and energy in the classroom, and a willingness to help students far beyond office hours, earned special recognition for 13 UAB faculty members: a 2009 President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. At the annual Faculty Awards Convocation in March, President Carol Garrison presented this year’s awards to Alison Chapman, Ph.D. (Arts and Humanities); Allen Johnston, Ph.D. (Business); Madelyn Coar, D.M.D. (Dentistry); Lynn Kirkland, Ed.D. (Education); Robin Foley, Ph.D. (Engineering); Mary Warren (Health Professions); Robin Lester, Ph.D. (Joint Health Sciences); Alice Goepfert, M.D. (Medicine); Douglas Watson, Ph.D. (Natural Sciences and Mathematics); David Vance, Ph.D. (Nursing); Marsha Snow, O.D. (Optometry); Inmaculada Aban, Ph.D. (Public Health); and Andrew Keitt, Ph.D. (Social and Behavioral Sciences). Read more

The winners of two other major annual awards also were honored at the March convocation. Pathology professor Peter Anderson, D.V.M., Ph.D., was cited for his exemplary teaching and scholarship as the recipient of the 2009 Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching. Read more

Max Michael, M.D., dean of the School of Public Health, was recognized for decades of service to the underserved with the 2010 Odessa Woolfolk Community Service Award. Read more