Teresa Wilborn, Ph.D.Teresa Wilborn, Pharm.D., Ph.D., will serve as interim chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, effective Jan. 1.
Wilborn received a B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Florida in 1980 and a Pharm.D. from Mercer University in 1982. After working as a consultant pharmacist, she obtained a Ph.D. in Pharmacology at UAB in 1992 and then completed a fellowship in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics.
She has dedicated herself to the teaching of pharmacology to a spectrum of health professionals, including physicians, graduate students, dentists, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, and nurse anesthetists. She is known by her students and colleagues for her enthusiasm, sincerity, and commitment to staying current in the changing arena of therapeutics.
Wilborn currently serves as professor and vice-chair in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and has been awarded the senior faculty 2022 Dean’s Excellence Award in Teaching and the 2022 Dale J. Benos Award for Excellence in Education. Additionally, she has served on the USMLE Pharmacology and Biochemistry Test Material Development Committee since 2018 and was elected to the Academy of Pharmacology Educators of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 2022.
“I joined the department 35 years ago as a graduate student, so I consider it a special honor to serve as the acting chair,” says Wilborn. “I look forward to working with the department’s talented faculty and staff to promote a collaborative teaching and research environment.”
Mary-Ann Bjornsti, Ph.D., will step down as chair on Dec. 31., to focus on her ongoing research interests, mentorship opportunities, and her leadership role within the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. Additionally, she will serve as president-elect of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, the largest coalition of biological and biomedical research associations in the United States.