On September 1, 2015, faculty, staff, students and special guests, Dr. John Dubay and Dr. Eric Hunter, gathered at Volker Hall for the inaugural Susan Roberts Dubay Endowed Lecture. 

On September 1, 2015, faculty, staff, students and special guests, Dr. John Dubay and Dr. Eric Hunter, gathered at Volker Hall for the inaugural Susan Roberts Dubay Endowed Lecture. 

The endowment honors the memory of Susan Dubay who worked as a research assistant in Dr. Eric Hunter’s lab during the 1980s.

Susan’s husband, Dr. John Dubay, said, “The fund gives us an opportunity to honor Susan’s contributions but also gives me the opportunity to give something back to a department that was very good to me. My hope is that this lectureship would develop into something very notable for the department—one that would be one of a handful of Micro events that would really stand out throughout the sciences honoring Susan and giving the department another event to be proud of.”

While at UAB, Susan worked for Dr. Eric Hunter who was the founding director of the UAB Center of AIDS Research. Hunter, now Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, gave the first Dubay lecture: “The role of viral fitness in HIV-1 transmission and disease progression.”

“All in all, this was a very special day for me,” said Dr. Dubay. “I'm overwhelmed with how well it went. It was great to be able to get back together with many of my old friends including Eric.”