Style Guide

The UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine is a leader in medical education, biomedical research, and patient care. A consistent, professional style helps us communicate the excellence of our people and programs with clarity and efficiency.

This style guide is specific to the Heersink School of Medicine but includes guidance from the UAB Campus Style Guide and AP Style Guide. This style guide is intended primarily for Heersink news articles, department news articles, Heersink/UAB publication articles, and formal executive/chair communications.

If not addressed in this Heersink Style Guide, refer to these sources:

• UAB Brand and Communication Toolkit Style Guide
• For spelling: Merriam-Webster
• For style rules: AP Style Guide
• For disease names, scientific and medical terminology, etc.: PubMed

Agarwal Title

Anupam Agarwal, M.D., senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the Heersink School of Medicine or Senior Vice President for Medicine and Dean of the Heersink School of Medicine Anupam Agarwal, M.D. Do not refer to him as “Dean Agarwal” in articles and formal communications.

Apostrophes

Avoid using the possessive (apostrophe + s) with proper nouns.

✓ The UAB Department of Neurology Residency Program
✗ The UAB Department of Neurology’s residency program

Advanced Practice Provider (APP)

Spell out “advanced practice provider” followed by (APP) on first mention; subsequent mentions can be abbreviated to APP. Include common degree abbreviations on first mention with full name (P.A., N.P., CRNP, CRNA).

Attribution Verbs (AP Style rule)

Use past tense attribution verbs (said, stated).

Building Names

If the building/facility official name includes “the,” include and capitalize it (The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital). Use full name on first mention; on subsequent mentions use shortened name or abbreviation (ex: The Kirklin Clinic, TKC; McCallum Basic Health Sciences Building, McCallum Building; Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building, ALGEN; Lyons-Harrison Faculty Office Tower, LHFOT).

• Campus Map
• Building Directory

Center (AP Style rule)

Capitalize “center” when it is part of a proper noun (UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science); lowercase it when it is used alone in a sentence (The center will help scientists). These rules are also true for school, institute, department, division, section, program, etc. (UAB Neurology Residency Program; The program is accepting applicants).

Colon (AP Style rule)

• The most frequent use of a colon is at the end of a sentence to introduce lists, tabulations, text, etc. A colon should not separate a verb and its direct object in a sentence.

  ✓  The care team focused on three priorities: patient safety, clinical excellence, and compassionate communication.
  ✗ The physician prescribed: antibiotics, pain medication, and follow-up care.
  
  

• Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence.

  ✓ The results were concerning: The patient’s blood pressure remained dangerously high.
  ✗ The patient presented with three symptoms: Fever, cough, and shortness of breath.
  
  

• See “Headlines” for colon usage guidance.

Commas

Use the Oxford comma; this deviates from AP Style and Office of Marketing and Communications Style, which does not use Oxford commas.

✓ Felix went to the store, the bank, and the post office.

Composition Titles (cited)

Lectures/seminars/presentations

• Use quotation marks around the title.

• Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.

• Capitalize articles (a, an, the) and shorter words only if they are the first or last word in the title.

• Ex: The professor gave a lecture titled “A Walk Through the Microbiome.”

Publications/magazines/journal titles

• Do not use italics.

• Capitalize the principal words in the title, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.

• Do not use quotation marks around journal titles.

• Ex: Her findings were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Books

• Use quotation marks around book titles, except the Bible and books that are primarily catalogs or reference materials.

• Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.

• Capitalize articles (a, an, the) and shorter words if they are the first or last word in the title.

• Do not use italics.

• Ex: “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Copyright and Trademark Symbols

Per AP Style, do not use copyright and trademark symbols in text (i.e. for brand name pharmaceuticals); exceptions can be made if an external/industry partner specifically requests it.

Dashes (em-dash and hyphen; AP Style rule)

• Use em-dashes to denote an abrupt change in thought in a sentence or an emphatic pause but avoid overuse of dashes to set off phrases when commas would suffice. When a phrase that otherwise would be set off by commas contains a series of words that must be separated by commas, use dashes to set off the full phrase with no spaces before and after the em-dash (ex: He listed the qualities—intelligence, humor, independence—that he liked in an executive.). Create an em-dash by writing a word plus two hyphens then another word and a space.

• Use hyphens as joiners, such as for compound modifiers (ex: small-business owner). AP also uses hyphens for ranges, such as Jan. 1-4, while some other styles use en dashes. There should be no spaces surrounding a hyphen.

Data (AP Style rule)

The word typically takes singular verbs and pronouns when writing for general audiences and in data journalism contexts (ex: The data is sound). Use databank and database, but data processing (n. and adj.) and data center.

Dates (AP Style rule)

This rule applies only to articles and longer-form text. Abbreviate most months (Jan. 4, Feb. 5, Aug. 6, Sept. 7, Oct. 9, Nov. 10, Dec. 11); do not abbreviate March, April, May, June, July. Spell out the full month if it does not have a date after it (ex: She went to work in January). Omit “on” when using dates (ex: Mini Medical School will take place Jan. 15). If a time is included, place it after the date (ex: Jan. 15, 4 p.m.). When a phrase refers to a month and day within the current year, do not include the year (ex: The hearing is scheduled for June 26). If the reference is to a past or future year, include the year and set it off with commas (ex: Feb. 14, 2027, is the target date). Use an s without an apostrophe to indicate decades or centuries: the 1890s, the 1800s. Years used to start a sentence should be written in numerals (ex: 2013 was a very good year).

Degree/Certification/Credential Abbreviations

Do not use periods for degree abbreviations when there are three or more capital letters. (ex: M.D., R.N., Ph.D. but MPH, FACS).

• Note: this is a nuanced topic and best judgment may be used depending on the primary channel, audience, and intended use for the content. In general, include only commonly recognized terminal degrees; no master's degrees (M.S., M.A., etc.). However, you may include MBA, MPH, MPA, FACS, etc. when circumstances require – see note below for further guidance. Fellow credentials (FACS, FAAP, etc.) are acceptable only if the faculty member requires it, but it is preferable not to include them. For staff announcements, it is acceptable to include master level degrees.

• Recommended best practice is to link back to faculty member’s Scholars profile, which should include all credentials.

Departments/Divisions in the Heersink School of Medicine

Capitalize the word “department” or division” only if it is part of a proper noun (ex: UAB Department of Surgery; researchers in the department). If a faculty member’s division is relevant/included, include their title and full department name, division name (ex: John Smith, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology). Preference is to refer to full department name on first reference (UAB Department of Surgery), then “Department of XXX” on subsequent references. Lowercase nouns in plural uses (ex: the schools of Engineering and Health Professions, the departments of Chemistry and Biology).

Disease/Disorder Names (AP Style rule)

Do not capitalize diseases such as cancer, emphysema, leukemia, hepatitis, etc. The exception is Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, which AP Style capitalizes.

When a disease is known by the name of a person or geographical area identified with it, capitalize only the proper noun element (ex: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Ebola virus disease, etc.).

Other than in direct quotations, avoid such expressions as “He is battling cancer” or “She is a stroke victim.” Use neutral, precise descriptions, such as “He has stomach cancer,” “She had a stroke,” and “They are being treated for Parkinson's disease.”

Doctor/Dr.

“Dr.” is used only in first-person, internal leadership messaging/quotes that are written in “the voice” of a school or department leader/faculty member (ex: “I congratulate Dr. Dransfield on his chair appointment”). In regular articles (not written in first-person), use the rules outlined in the “Name” entry of this guide. “Physician” is preferred over “doctor” when using the noun in a general sense (ex: The physicians met at a conference).

Endowed Positions

Whenever possible, include endowed position in the following order with their faculty title(s) (note: use “Professor” not “Professorship” when including in a title). Find endowed positions.

• For department chairs, include their professor title and chair (lowercase “c”), then department name, then endowed position (ex: J. Victor Garcia Martinez, Ph.D., professor and chair, UAB Department of Microbiology, Charles H. McCauley Endowed Chair in Microbiology).

• For non-chair faculty who hold an endowed position, include their faculty title, department name, division name (where applicable), and endowed position (ex: Daniel Rocke, M.D., associate professor, UAB Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Head and Neck Oncology, Julius N. Hicks Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery).

Headlines

• Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns in headlines. Exception: The first word after a colon is always uppercase in headlines (ex: The forest is the therapist: How time in nature supports well-being). Always capitalize the first letter of a headline, even if it starts with a proper name such as iPhone or eBay, though rewriting may be the better choice.

• Use last name only – no Dr. or credentials.

• Try to limit headlines to 100 characters.

• Use numerals; do not spell out numbers except in casual uses or formal names (hundreds instead of 100s; Big Ten; one of the first). Spell out ordinals under 10 (first, fifth, ninth but 10th, 23rd, 104th.

• If headline includes a quote, use single quotes only (ex: ‘The findings were surprising:’ Shi publishes neurological study).

• Avoid abbreviations generally but universally recognized abbreviations are acceptable (with no periods - US, EU, NIH, CDC, FDA, DOD). In these instances, spell out on first reference in the article, preferably in the first sentence/paragraph.

• Millions and billions can be abbreviated in headlines. For example, $45 million would be $45M, and $5 billion would be $5B.

• Try to include keywords that are central to the story’s content and consider what keywords relevant to the story are trending in search engines and social media. What terms are readers likely to be searching for?

Healthcare (Rule changed in 2025 to deviate from AP Style)

Heersink style differs from AP Style in that we use one word for healthcare. This is in part due to the number of programs/offices/units in the Heersink School of Medicine with “healthcare” in the name, which creates confusion in copy.

Heersink School of Medicine

• For formal uses (press releases; articles for UAB News), use the full school name—UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine—on first mention, then Heersink School of Medicine, Heersink, school, we, our(s) on subsequent mentions.

• For internal news articles and official internal emails:

  • Heersink School of Medicine on first mention

  • Heersink, school, we, our(s) on second mention

• For newsletter, email, and web, use plural first-person pronouns (we, our, us)

• For externally-oriented content/materials and formal communications, do not use HSOM. Use Heersink School of Medicine or Heersink.

• For historical references or content that references historical events, use Heersink School of Medicine or Heersink (ex: The Heersink School of Medicine launched the Internal Medicine Residency Primary Care Track in 1985.)

• For alumni who graduated prior to the 2021 naming of the school, if possible, reference the full school name (using Heersink) in a prior sentence, then say something like "Becky Byrd, M.D., a 1974 graduate of the school," without having to explicitly reference the alum as a “Heersink School of Medicine graduate.” However, if it is not possible to add additional context, it is acceptable to classify individuals who graduated before 2021 as Heersink School of Medicine alumni/graduates.

Hyperlinks

• Avoid hyperlinking the words “click here” or similar phrases. Links should provide some information when read out of context and explain what the link offers. Linking text like “click here” doesn’t tell a reader anything about the link, and for users with disabilities, it can be even more difficult to discern the context. Instead, hyperlink the relevant text within a paragraph.

  • ✓ Learn more about the UAB Department of Neurology

  • ✗ Learn more about the UAB Department of Neurology. Click here.

•  For contact information, include the full email address and hyperlink it.

  • ✓ Contact Jane Smith at jsmith@uab.edu

  • ✗ Contact Jane Smith.

• Do not link punctuation marks. Ex: The 9th Annual Birmingham Ride to Eradicate Parkinson’s, part of the Team Rowland Road Series, will be Saturday, Oct. 4 at Oak Mountain State Park.

• Set hyperlinks to open in a new tab or window.

Institute

Capitalize when used with the full name of the institute (UAB Institute for Translational Research); lowercase when used alone in a sentence (ex: The institute will provide assistance to scientists.) These rules are also true for school, center, department, division, section, program, etc.

Junior, Senior (AP Style rule)

Abbreviate as Jr. and Sr. only with full names of persons. Do not precede with a comma (ex: Martin Luther King Jr.).

Manikins

A jointed model of the human body used in medical training (often in simulation exercises). Not to be confused with mannequin (used to display clothes in a store window).

Names (AP Style rule)

Use full name (excluding middle initial) plus degree abbreviations on first instance(ex: William Smith, M.D., Ph.D.); use last name only on following instances. The exception is to use the full name on subsequent references when you are referring to two people with the same last name, such as a father and son. Only begin using full names after introducing the second person.

OB/GYN

Not Ob/Gyn or OB-GYN or Ob-Gyn or OBGYN

Orthopaedic/Orthopedic

Spell it orthopaedic when used in a department name, UAB Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Spell it orthopedic on all other references (ex: He studied orthopedic surgery at UAB).

Program/Residency Program

Capitalize when used with the full name of the program or residency (ex: UAB Neurosurgery Residency; UAB Neurosurgery Residency Program; UAB Pain Management Program). Lowercase when used alone in a sentence (ex: The residency program will provide assistance to trainees). These rules are also true for school, center, department, division, section, program, etc.

Possessives for Names Ending in “s”

Use an apostrophe without “s” to create the possessive of a name ending in “s” (ex: Lewis’ journey to medical school was a winding path).

PowerPoint Slide Titles

Make these as short as possible and capitalize all major words except prepositions and articles with fewer than four letters (capitalize with, over, etc.).

Regional Campuses

Heersink School of Medicine has three regional campuses, in Huntsville, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa.

• First reference: UAB Heersink School of Medicine Huntsville Regional Campus

• Second reference: Huntsville campus (or just "campus" if it is a more informal piece and only one campus is being referenced)

• For Birmingham, it should only be referenced as a "campus" if it's being used in the context of the other campuses (ex: All medical students complete their pre-clinical training on the Birmingham campus).

Said, Stated (AP Style rule)

Use past tense attribution verbs (said, stated).

Specialties

In general, do not capitalize medical specialties (ex: His doctor specializes in internal medicine. He completed a residency in neurology.). Do not use “professor of Pathology;” instead, include the faculty title and full department name (ex: John Smith, M.D., professor in the UAB Department of Pathology).

Startup (AP Style rule)

One word (n. and adj.) to describe a new business venture.

State Names (AP Style rule)

The names of U.S. states should be spelled out when used in the body of a story, whether standing alone or in conjunction with a city, town, or military base. The exception is for Birmingham—do not spell out Alabama after the city name, unless it appears in a list of other cities/states (ex: The research team hails from Cleveland, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama). Do not use postal code or AP Style abbreviations for state names (ex: Ca., CA, Wy., WY, etc.).

Subheads

Format subheads (also called a deck or dek when it appears under a headline) following the same rules as headlines. When using subheads within longform articles to break up copy, follow the same rules as headlines.

Times (AP Style rule)

Always use numerals for times (ex: 8 a.m., 10:30 p.m.). Use a.m. and p.m. in lower case with periods (ex: 8 a.m., 10:30 p.m.). Avoid phrases like "10 a.m. in the morning". Use "a.m." and "p.m." only once for time ranges within the same period and separate with a hyphen (ex: 6:30-10 p.m.). Do not use “:00” for “on the hour” times (ex: 10 a.m., not 10:00 a.m.). If the time range goes from morning into evening, use both a.m. and p.m. (ex: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.). If a date is included, place it before the time (Jan. 15, 4 p.m.).   

Titles

• Try to use no more than 2-3 titles

• The primary academic title (professor, assistant professor, etc.) is usually the highest-ranking title and should appear first. Look for the (P) in Scholars to find the primary department or division. The primary academic title should almost always outrank a director title. A higher-ranking title than a professor would be an assistant, associate, or senior dean, for example.

• Director titles may be used when relevant to the context and audience of the article, and/or the faculty member strongly prefers that it be included.

• Do not use “full professor,” “tenured professor,” or “professor with tenure.”

• Use professor emeritus for emeritus faculty.

UAB

When referring to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the abbreviation “UAB” is allowed on first usage. This deviates from the UAB MarComm Style Guide.

UAB Health System

Always capitalize. After the first reference, "the Health System" is acceptable. View the UAB Health System network map available.

UAB Medicine

UAB Medicine is the name and primary brand for the clinical facilities and services provided by faculty in the Heersink School of Medicine through the UAB Health System. The UAB Medicine brand now encompasses all aspects of our academic medical center, including the UAB Heersink School of Medicine and its departments, centers, institutes, and programs. See the brand guide.

University of Alabama Health Services Foundation

The official name of the physician practice plan. Always capitalize. After the first reference, “the Health Services Foundation” is acceptable, as are the abbreviations HSF and UAHSF.