In 2025, the support of alumni, grateful patients, faculty, staff, and community partners fueled innovation and excellence across the Heersink School of Medicine, expanding educational opportunities, advancing transformative research, and enhancing healthcare across Alabama and beyond. Here we highlight just a few of these gifts and the meaningful progress made possible by our donors’ extraordinary generosity and vision.
The Killion family of Birmingham made a $10 million gift to create the Wayne Killion Endowment for the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics and to rename the center the Killion Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics at the Heersink School of Medicine. The endowment, which honors three generations of Killions who battled neurodegenerative diseases, will support vital research and education focused on Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s diseases and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
A transformational, $10 million gift from longtime Heersink supporters Mike and Gillian Goodrich will strengthen Alabama’s rural healthcare workforce, advance education, and increase access to healthcare in communities across the state’s Black Belt region and other rural areas.
From the roaring engines at GT World Alabama to friendly competition at the Teal Wings of Hope Golf Tournament and the elegance of the Teal Wings of Hope Gala, fundraising efforts from Teal Wings of Hope and UAB Medicine raised an extraordinary $1.2 million to advance ovarian cancer awareness, research, and treatment through UAB Gynecologic Oncology. Teal Wings of Hope is a Birmingham nonprofit founded by Bob Barrett in memory of his wife Babs with the goal of ensuring that no woman faces ovarian cancer without hope, support, and a fighting chance.
Thanks to a $1.5 million gift from the Barber Companies, the UAB Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy has received a dynamic catalyst for medical innovation. The Barber Companies Research Fund for Patient Centered Innovation is a transformative investment in the work of Benjamin Pearce, M.D., associate professor and the William D. Jordan, Jr. Endowed Professor in Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy. With the Barber Companies’ support, Pearce will further surgical education research and explore novel programs—including a coaching program for future academic leaders and an exploration of how artificial intelligence will impact the future of medical training—in the hope that this work will shine a light on the dedicated community of vascular surgeons.