News

UABMedicine.org has a new look and feel, thanks to a major upgrade that provides a smarter and more user-friendly online experience for patients and other visitors. This upgrade to UAB Medicine’s website was designed to help patients and visitors, referring providers, job-seekers, and other users connect with us more easily.

A healthy diet requires making informed choices about food, and nutrition facts labels contain information needed to make those choices. The following information may help you better understand nutrition labels and make your food shopping smarter and easier.

It is possible to have a broken heart, though not in the way people typically think. While many people think of a broken heart on an emotional level, Gregory Chapman, M.D., a cardiologist in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Cardiovascular Institute, says a broken heart can impact the body on a physical level, causing temporary cardiac episodes or, in rare cases, even death. 

For the convenience of our patients, UAB Sports & Exercise Medicine and UAB Orthopaedic Services now allow patients to schedule their own appointments online with many providers. This includes appointments at UAB Hospital-Highlands, UAB Medicine Gardendale Specialty Care, and UAB Sports and Exercise Medicine at St. Vincent’s 119.

The UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute performs human leukocyte antigen (HLA) testing prior to organ transplantation, to help ensure a good match between donor and recipient and reduce the risk of rejection. This testing is carried out by the Institute’s state-of-the-art Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Lab, which plays an important role in the transplant process.

Each year, UAB Spain Rehabilitation Center (SRC) recognizes a disabled individual whose courage and determination inspire hope in others who face similar challenges. The 2022 recipient of the SRC Ambassador of Hope Award is Caleb Andrews, a 28-year-old firefighter/paramedic with the Vestavia Hills Fire Department.

The on-field collapse of Buffalo Bills defensive player Damar Hamlin in January due to cardiac arrest sparked conversations about safety in the National Football League. As sports go, however, basketball players actually suffer the highest rate of sudden cardiac death (SCD).

Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to show affection or celebrate romance with cards, flowers, and candy. It’s a good day for sweethearts, but it can also be a reminder of how expressions of love and caring may benefit the body. Research suggests that physical demonstrations of affection can improve some health factors and reduce the risk of heart disease.

On Feb. 17, 2020, the starting gun fired for the start of the 19th running of the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham. Veteran ultra-runner Donna Arrington, age 55, was in the field. She was on pace to finish strong until, at the halfway point at mile 13, Arrington began to feel sharp pain in her right leg.

When Jeremy Pritchett first visited the family medicine clinic at UAB Medicine’s Hoover location, he was thinking mostly about his kidneys. He had just had a kidney stone and Sumayah Abed, M.D., a practitioner at the Hoover clinic and assistant professor in UAB’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, was running follow-up tests.

UAB Medicine employees recently battled for the “tin can trophy” in the 2022 CANstruction event, which was hosted by UAB Medicine’s Men in Nursing Employee Resource Group, UAB Hospital nursing leadership, and the Birmingham Chapter of the American Association of Men in Nursing. CANstruction teams collected canned goods and used them to construct the most impressive structures possible, each with its own theme.

We are pleased to announce the most recent UAB Medicine DAISY Award, recognizing the extraordinary care and compassion that nurses provide for patients and families every day. Submissions and stories are reviewed each month, and then the winner is surprised at a special ceremony.