Rena C. Patel, M.D., MPH, MPhil, has been named associate director for Global Health Research for the UAB Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health (MHIGH), effective May 1.

On Saturday, February 1, 2025, the UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center’s Young Professionals Board hosted Harlem in the 'Ham, an event supporting the center’s Healthy Happy Kids (HHK) childhood obesity prevention program.

With a $2.47 million gift from Novo Nordisk Inc., Live HealthSmart Alabama is applying its holistic health model in Selma, Camden, Demopolis and other underserved communities.

For many people, thoughts turn to home during the holidays – to nourishment of body and soul, an appreciation that where we come from makes us who we are.

New research from the Reducing Ethical and Social Prejudicial Effects of COVID-19 Testing in Underserved Populations (RESPECT-UP) study—led by MHERC Member, Gabriela Oates, Ph.D.—adapted existing scales to create a new measure for COVID-19 stigma attitudes and perceptions.

Health disparities continue to pose significant challenges to achieving health equity, undermining the well-being of individuals and communities. To ensure the validity and fairness of research outcomes, it is essential to include representation across areas such as race and ethnicity, age, gender, and socioeconomic conditions.

For Angela Williams, it’s personal. In a span of two weeks in July 1991, Williams lost both her parents to cancer.

UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center (MHERC), a leader in health disparities research, is excited to announce the appointment of Irfan Asif, M.D., chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate dean of primary care and rural health, as the Center’s Co-Director.

Gabriela Oates, PhD, Associate Professor, and a member of the MHERC, has received a $1.2 million grant from the CF Foundation to develop and validate the “Screener for Unmet Needs in Cystic Fibrosis” (SUN-CF). This project addresses the critical need for a standardized, disease-specific social screening tool tailored for both adults and children with cystic fibrosis (CF).

New research from the Reducing Ethical and Social Prejudicial Effects of COVID-19 Testing in Underserved Populations (RESPECT-UP) study, shows how engaging community members as research team members can overcome mistrust in medical research within African American communities.

With support from the University of Alabama at Birmingham's (UAB) Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center (MHERC), Carrie A. Tuggle Elementary School recently celebrated the opening of its new Calm Down Room.

BIRMINGHAM, AL – The UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center (MHERC) has been awarded a $5.6 million 4-year grant by the National Institutes of Health to implement the fourth iteration of the Alabama Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) – Alabama CEAL for Healthy Communities.

With more than 3,300 residents living in East Lake, Live HealthSmart Alabama hopes to encourage a healthier lifestyle by providing safe spaces for them to get outside.

The CLA was made possible with support from Coca-Cola United, whose generous donation of $250,000 funded LHSA’s pilot academy.

Through a generous gift from Novo Nordisk Inc., Live HealthSmart Alabama is beginning to expand statewide, starting in central Alabama with Selma, Demopolis and Camden, while taking steps to make good health simple — one person, one family and one community at a time.

Mona Fouad, M.D., MPH, senior associate dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Heersink School of Medicine and director of the Minority Health and Health Equity Research Center, has been elected to the National Institutes of Health’s Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) Working Group on Diversity.

As one of only five universities selected, UAB joins the NIH’s first major program to address how structural and institutional factors of persistent poverty relate to cancer.

The future has much potential as the REACH Up and Out program hopes to continue to make an impact on the lives of Black women in the Deep South.

Live HealthSmart Alabama is continuing to make good health simple with its completion of the new Bush Hills Connection Complex and Urban Garden.

The Healthy Happy Kids program focuses on a different health and physical activity topic each week, encouraging children to make healthier choices.

The designated partners have shown their commitment to their employees by promoting a healthy lifestyle. They encourage employees to take physical activity breaks, offer tips for healthy eating, host health and wellness sessions for team members, and more.

Live HealthSmart Alabama has taken its signature keys — healthy eating, prevention and wellness, physical activity, and education — to create and implement initiatives at all levels within the institution.