Many residents of low-income Birmingham neighborhoods are not able to access COVID testing. To address this concern, the Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC) has begun a unique testing outreach to address transportation and other barriers to health care.

Trained patient navigators staff a bilingual call center to guide individuals through symptom screening, access to testing, understanding results, and referral to health care resources. Community partners in this effort to reduce health disparities include: Live HealthSmart Alabama, UAB Medicine, and the Jefferson County Department of Health.

More Good News for May 13, 2020

Turner Overton, MD (Professor, Infectious Diseases) is leading a team to answer whether the combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin is effective to prevent hospitalization and death in persons with COVID-19. They aim to enroll 80 adults as a part of the multi-center study.

Caroline Harada, MD (Associate Professor, Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care) has received the 2020 Provost's Award for Faculty Excellence in Service Learning. This award honors UAB faculty members who demonstrate extraordinary commitment to engage our students. Three cheers, Dr. Harada!

Monica Baskin, PhD (Professor, Preventive Medicine) is the new president for the Society of Behavioral Medicine. SBM is the nation's leading group of multi-specialty professionals, dedicated to improving health and quality of life through proven behavioral science. Well-deserved, Dr. Baskin!

Salmaan Kamal, MD (PGY-2) reflects on his service in the COVID ICU. In this emotional encounter with a terminally ill patient and her sister, he relates the overwhelming sense of desperation encountered by families with loved ones in isolation—and how the difficult experience ultimately renewed his sense of purpose and hope.

DOM physician Dr. Ashita Tolwani (Professor, Nephrology) will present "Managing Acute Kidney Injury in COVID-19 Patients" at Medical Grand Rounds next Wednesday, May 20, at noon, via Zoom. The session will be recorded for later viewing. Check the DOM site for upcoming MGR events!

As we shift into the chronic phase of the pandemic and begin to identify some of our losses, we all need to tap into the simple pleasures that sustain us. Dr. Well-Be shares how choosing to celebrate the seemingly mundane discipline of making eggs for breakfast built a new habit of reflection that restored lost joy.