Racquel Innis-Shelton, MD (Hematology and Oncology) recently lent her voice to the second annual live Twitter Chat on African-American Bone Marrow Awareness Month. Although blood disorders like sickle cell disease predominantly affect African-Americans, only 7% of registered marrow donors are African-American. #aabmam #letschangethis

Salpy Pamboukian, MD (Cardiovascular Disease) celebrated a special anniversary with her patient George “Mac” McAlister last month. Thanks to a left ventricular assist device, Mac was able to survive long enough to receive a heart transplant in June 2015. He considers his UAB care team a part of the family now, and calls himself a “walking miracle.”

Six DOM faculty have won AMC21 Reload Multi-Investigator Grants. Each project was awarded $150,000 per year for up to three years.

• Paul Sanders, MD (Nephrology) will PI “Cardiovascular complications of renal disease” along with Louis J. Dell’Italia, MD (Cardiovascular Disease) and other researchers from Pathology and Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology.  
• Michal Mrug, MD (Nephrology) will collaborate on “Origin, fate and role of defined mononuclear phagocytes subtypes during renal maturation, following acute kidney injury, and in chronic kidney diseases in mice and humans.”
• Martin Young, PhD (Cardiovascular Disease) will PI “Circadian disruption and susceptibility to target organ damage” with David Pollock, PhD (Nephrology) and Jennifer Pollock, PhD (Nephrology) along with investigators in Pathology and Psychiatry.

Infectious Diseases faculty Michael Mugavero, MD, MHSc, and Michael Saag, MD, were authors on the newest release of the IAS-USA Antiretroviral Therapy Guidelines published in JAMA.

Nirmal Sharma, MD (Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care) was recently invited to join the editorial advisory board of Chest Physician, where he will serve as a topic expert in Critical Care Medicine, Advanced Lung Diseases, and Transplantation.  

Stephen Jordan, MD, PhD (Fellow, Infectious Diseases) has received an Trainee Travel Grant. He will present his abstract “Investigating the Correlation of Chlamydia trachomatis-specific Cytokines with Risk for Chlamydia Reinfection” at the IDWeek 2016 Conference in October.

Jarred W. Younger, PhD (Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology) won a Rheumatology Research Foundation pilot study brain thermometry, a non-invasive method for detecting neuro-inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis.

Two DOM faculty have been appointed Professors Emeritus. G.M. Anantharamiah, PhD (Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care) and Joseph Bloomer, MD (Gastroenterology and Hepatology).

2014-2015 Teaching Excellence Awards have been given to 25 DOM faculty members with the highest overall teaching effectiveness scores from residents and students. Five of these outstanding clinician-educators are Martin Rodriguez, MD (Infectious Diseases) Lisa Willett, MD (General Internal Medicine) Steve Stigler, MD (Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care) Brendan McGuire, MD (Gastroenterology and Hepatology) Eric Wallace, MD (Nephrology). We will share five more names next week.

David O. Freedman, MD (Infectious Diseases) recently outlined ZIKA Virus Travel Precautions in a WSFA-42 News segment: Pregnant women should not travel to Latin America or Caribbean; and couples should wait two months after returning from these areas before conception.

Medical Grand Rounds is on summer hiatus until September 7.