UAB Division of Breast & Endocrine Surgery Assistant Professor Andrea Gillis, M.D., MSPH, has received the 2024 Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) Pilot Grant Award for studying pancreatic cancer among older adults.

Gillis is a health outcome disparities and translational science researcher working in epigenetics. She leads a laboratory focused on pancreatic tumors. She has also been awarded an NIH grant for Early Surgeon Scientists (ESSP) to pursue this work.

Besides striving for excellence in research, Gillis mentors high school and undergraduate students, encouraging young trainees to pursue academic medicine and surgery. Her main clinical interests are thyroid diseases, parathyroid disorders, adrenal nodules, inherited endocrine syndromes, and pancreatic tumors.

About the Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR)

The Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) is a collaboration of four Southern institutions: Morehouse School of Medicine, Tuskegee University, University of Alabama, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

This program's main goals are to provide high-quality research training and individualized career development support for faculty, to identify and mentor faculty committed to academic careers in health disparities and aging research, and to disseminate research results to various audiences for greater clinical impact.