May 26, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Douglas C. Heimburger, M.D., professor of nutrition sciences at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and conduct research at the University of Zambia, in Lusaka, Zambia, during the 2006-2007 academic year. The grant comes from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Heimburger will investigate nutritional factors influencing the response to medical treatments for HIV/AIDS.

Heimburger is one of approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad to some 150 countries this coming academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program’s purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries.

The Fulbright program is sponsored by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over its 60 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the U.S.

Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields.