On Jan. 31, 2023, Kara Huls, M.D., assistant professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, and Ashley Hodges, Ph.D., CRNP, nurse practitioner and program coordinator for the Sunrise Clinic at Children's of Alabama, received the inaugural Outstanding Victim Protection in Countering Human Trafficking Award by the Center for Countering Human Trafficking (CCHT) within the US Department of Homeland Security.

The CCHT recognized Drs. Huls and Hodges and other members of Birmingham's Counter-Trafficking Multidisciplinary Team (MDT), which includes law enforcement officers, judicial officials, attorneys of the district attorney's office, and other service providers working together to improve detection and care of trafficking survivors and increased accountability for perpetrators. Birmingham's MDT has been recognized as a national model for addressing child trafficking. 

Drs. Huls and Hodges provide medical care to survivors of childhood sex trafficking at the Sunrise Clinic at Children's of Alabama. This clinic, founded in partnership with UAB, provides comprehensive medical care to survivors of child trafficking and consultation with service providers and community members encountering children who may have been trafficked. The Sunrise Clinic is held within Children's Hospital's Intervention and Prevention Services Center and consists of nurses, case managers, therapists, and medical providers devoted to the care of survivors of child abuse. Dr. Huls is also the medical director of Children's of Alabama's Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program, which provides acute medical care and forensic exams for survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault.

“The vision of Sunrise is to earnestly acknowledge the value of every person who suffers the terrible trauma of trafficking,” said Dr. Huls. “We are here to celebrate the courage it takes to move forward and to equip survivors to continue their journey with a healthy body, a healthy mind, and a team of supporters who accept them as a whole, healing person.”