The Department is delighted to announce that Ken Saag, M.D., M.Sc. will serve as our next Director of the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, effective July 1, 2020.  Ken will build on an outstanding foundation to lead the Division in its growth as an international leader, a truly exceptional program for discovery, learning, teaching, and care. 

Currently the Jane Knight Lowe Endowed Chair in the Division and the Department of Medicine, Ken is a national rheumatologic leader in outcomes and effectiveness research  as well as an esteemed physician and outstanding teacher.  All of us whose patients have benefited from Ken’s consultation know that his excellent clinical acumen is a real asset to our rheumatology and osteoporosis programs.  Ken traces his clinical skills to his residency at Northwestern University, Evanston Hospital, where he was recognized as Outstanding Intern of the Year and a Chief Resident, and his fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Iowa. 

Ken will be President-Elect of the American College of Rheumatology this fall and he is past-President of the National Osteoporosis Foundation.  He has served UAB as Director, Center for Outcomes, Effectiveness Research and Education (COERE) since 2009.  He also directs the Center of Research Translation (CoRT) in Gout and Hyperuricemia, a program supported by the NIH for nearly a decade, and he serves as Vice Chair for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research in the Department.  An elected member of the American Association of Physicians, Ken has first-authored 3 original articles in the New England Journal of Medicine on treatment of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis and on fracture prevention in women with osteoporosis, as well as over 300 other original articles.  Ken has been a preeminent mentor, training over 20 post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty as PI of several T32s, a K12, and the KL2 in UAB’s CCTS.

Trained as an engineer at the University of Michigan, Ken received his M.D. from Northwestern University and the M.Sc. in Epidemiology from the University of Iowa.  He served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa under Francois Abboud before joining our Department under the leadership of Bill Koopman as Chair and Bob Kimberly as Division Director. 

Ken will assume the responsibilities of Division Director from Lou Bridges, M.D., Ph.D., who will become the next Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at Cornell.  For over 10 years, Lou has very ably led the Division as it expanded its research programs in immunology and outcomes and effectiveness research and significantly enhancing its clinical programs in complex rheumatologic diseases.

Please join us in congratulating and supporting Ken in his new role as Division Director.