Two DOM Professors were appointed to endowed positions at the June 19 meeting of the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees. Ravi Bhatia, MD (Hematology and Oncology) was appointed as the next holder of the Martha Ann and David L. May Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. Edward W. Hook III, MD, (Director, Infectious Diseases) was chosen to be the inaugural holder of the C. Glenn Cobbs, MD, Endowed Professorship in Infectious Diseases.

Turner Overton, MD (Infectious Diseases) and colleagues completed an NIH-funded AIDS Clinical Trial Group Study that demonstrated Vitamin D3 plus calcium supplementation mitigates the BMD loss seen with initiation of antiretroviral therapy. Their findings have been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Isabel C. Scarinci, PhD, MPH (Preventive Medicine) was appointed as a member of the Resource Stratified Guidelines on Cervical Cancer Primary Prevention Expert Panel through the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). ASCO resource-stratified clinical practice guidelines provide evidence-based guides for medical care providers and policymakers and outline suggested methods of treatment and care.  

UAB’s Comprehensive Diabetes Center is one of five centers worldwide selected as part of the inaugural Human Islets Research Network/Consortium on Targeting And Regeneration. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the type 1 diabetes special funding program support the multi-center project. As part of the consortium, UAB will receive $2 million to continue the research of Anath Shalev, MD (Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism) into the possibility that inhibiting a protein called TXNIP will promote functional beta cell mass in type 1 diabetes. 

Kevin Sublett, MD, (Cardiovascular Disease) has joined UAB as an Assistant Professor of Interventional Cardiology. He will practice at Russell Medical Center in Alexander City in the new UAB Heart and Vascular Clinic of Central Alabama. The expansion into Alex City gives patients better access to UAB’s exceptional heart and vascular care.

Coming Next Week: Lisa Bellini, MD, Professor and Program Director of the Internal Medicine Training Program at the University of Pennsylvania will present Medical Education: Past, Present, and Future.

View this week's slides here.