Media contact: Adam Pope
Live HealthSmart Alabama
Teresa Shufflebarger, MBA, MHA
(Photography: Lexi Coon), a program of the UAB Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center, has expanded its team with the addition of Teresa Shufflebarger, MBA, MHA, as chief administrative officer.
For three decades, Shufflebarger has held operations and strategic planning roles in the health care industry. Originally from the Birmingham area, she comes to UAB from her most recent role as founder and CEO at Allegro Partners, and previously from Brookwood Baptist Health.
Since winning the inaugural UAB Grand Challenge in 2019, Live HealthSmart Alabama has developed a comprehensive plan to improve health outcomes in four of Birmingham’s neighborhoods: Bush Hills, East Lake, Kingston and Titusville. Each plan consists of policy, system and environmental changes that help facilitate change in critical areas such as prevention and wellness, healthy eating, and physical activity.
Under the leadership of Mona Fouad, M.D., MPH, Live HealthSmart Alabama operations will focus on implementing the improvement plan, while Shufflebarger will develop a sustainable and scalable strategy to expand Live HealthSmart Alabama across the state.
“We are excited to have Teresa join the Live HealthSmart Alabama team,” Fouad said. “Her experience, passion and dedication to the health of our communities will be invaluable in reaching our long-term goals.”
Ultimately, Live HealthSmart Alabama aims to move the state out of the bottom 10 in key national health rankings for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“It’s a heavy lift, and it’s not something you can be successful at alone,” Shufflebarger said. “The ability to tell our story so that we can form lasting partnerships and shared ownership of this vision is how we will succeed.”
Due to the pandemic, Live HealthSmart Alabama pivoted from its original plans in order to provide underserved communities easy-to-understand COVID-19 information and access to testing. Moving forward, Shufflebarger will develop her strategy using the original long-term vision of Live HealthSmart Alabama — achieving better health for all.