BIRMINGHAM, AL — Two UAB faculty members were appointed and recognized at the June 17 University of Alabama System Board of Trustees meeting.

Thomas R. Hunt, III, M.D., professor and director of the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, was appointed as the second holder of the John D. Sherrill Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery. And Mary B. MacDougall, Ph.D., professor and associate dean of research and director of the Institute of Oral Health Research at UAB, was appointed as the second holder of the James R. Rosen Chair of Dental Research.

Hunt received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1986, followed by the completion of his residency training at the University of Kansas Medical Center in 1992 and a fellowship in hand and microvascular surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Medical Center in 1993.

Hunt served as head of hand surgery and director of the The Cleveland Clinic Hand and Upper Extremity Center at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation for seven years before joining the UAB faculty as professor and division director of orthopaedic surgery in 2004. He also holds appointments as senior scientist in the UAB Center for Metabolic Bone Disease and the UAB Cell and Matrix Adhesion Research Center.

Hunt is a highly sought-after speaker nationally; holds key committee appointments within the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; and his work in hand and microvascular surgery and minimally invasive techniques has been revolutionary to the field of orthopaedic surgery.

MacDougall, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, received her doctor of philosophy in craniofacial biology from the University of Southern California School of Dentistry in 1984.

After earning her Ph.D., MacDougall began her academic career as a research assistant professor at the Center for Craniofacial and Molecular Biology at the University of Southern California in 1986. In 1993, she joined the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC), San Antonio, as an associate professor; she was appointed full professor there in 1998. And in 1999, she became the UTHSC School of Dentistry’s first associate dean for research, a position she held until joining the UAB School of Dentistry in June 2005 as a full professor with tenure, associate dean for research and director of the UAB Institute of Oral Health Research.

MacDougall is internationally recognized for her well-funded research activities in craniofacial genetics and biomimetics. Since 1985, she has been funded continuously by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), and her research has been featured on the Discovery Health channel.

MacDougall has received many awards and honors including the International Association for Dental Research (AADR) Distinguished Scientist Pulp Biology Research Award. In 2003, she was awarded mentor of the year by the National Student Research Group of the AADR, and most recently she received the 2005 Distinguished Scientist Award for Basic Research in Biological Mineralization presented by the International Association for Dental Research.

MacDougall serves in leadership positions in many national and international organizations, including the NIDCR national advisory panel for K-12 science Curriculum development and the NIDCR director search committee. She was elected vice president of the American Association of Dental Research in 2003, and is currently serving as that organization’s president.