News

Each year, UAB Spain Rehabilitation Center (SRC) selects a patient, former patient, or their family member for its Ambassador of Hope Award. This special honor goes to an individual with a disability or their family member whose courage and determination inspire hope in others facing the challenges of disability. UAB Medicine employee Darryl Walker is the 2024 recipient of the award.

We are pleased to announce that Nathaniel H. Robin, M.D., professor in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine Department of Genetics, has been appointed director of Clinical Genetics and Genomics Services at UAB Medicine.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has received the “Center of Excellence” designation from the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP).

Each year, hundreds of patients visit the Amputee Clinic at UAB Spain Rehabilitation Center to be fit for prostheses after complications of diabetes, motor vehicle accidents and a wide range of other conditions. A new grant from UAB’s Health Services Foundation-General Endowment Fund awards program is funding the purchase of an advanced 3D printer that will allow those patients to receive their prostheses faster, at lower cost and with an even better fit, says the clinic’s director, Conley Carr, M.D. The printer will also produce custom orthoses for UAB patients needing braces after a stroke or other condition, he adds.

Marlena Smith, DNP, RN-BC, LSSGB, received the 2024 Cindajo Overton Outstanding Nurse Educator Award from the Alabama State Nurses Association (ASNA). Presented at the ASNA annual convention in October, the annual award recognizes excellence in teaching in an academic or service setting.

One Saturday morning in June, Jamie Smith, 47, began her shift at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. What Smith thought would be a normal day led to her waking up in a hospital bed three days later.

A urogynecologist is a type of doctor who diagnoses and treats women with pelvic floor disorders (PFDs). The pelvic floor is the group of muscles, tissue, and organs below the stomach area that holds the pelvic organs in place. In women, these include the bladder, urethra, intestines, rectum, uterus, cervix, and vagina.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, according to the American Heart Association. Heart disease can develop and present differently in women compared to men, and studies show that women may downplay their symptoms or delay seeking treatment. In women, the risk of heart attack and stroke increases with age, especially after menopause.

Alexander Mullen, M.D., neuroradiology fellow, and Cathy Chen, M.D., breast imaging fellow, “couples matched” with the UAB Department of Radiology in 2019. While the process was stressful, it was critical for them to be in the same location as a relatively newly married couple. They describe the process of couples matching, the challenges they faced while training in the same program, and how they grew in both their careers and personal lives with the help of the community they built in the department.

UAB Hospital once again was rated as high-performing in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals for Maternity Care” 2025 survey, which is the highest possible rating.

UAB Nursing would like to congratulate the latest nurse residents on completing their program. The nurse residency is a comprehensive, 12-month program for newly licensed nurses that helps them transition into more competent clinical practice.

UAB has been named a Care Center by the Oxalosis & Hyperoxaluria Foundation, making it one of three designated OHF Care Centers in the world. This designation marks UAB’s recognition as an international research hub and multidisciplinary clinical site focusing on primary hyperoxaluria and other rare kidney stone diseases.