November 27, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A UAB Center for Surgical Research was established by resolution of the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees at its recent meeting in Tuscaloosa.

The new center will be directed by Irshad H. Chaudry, Ph.D., who was recently recruited to UAB to be professor of surgery, microbiology and physiology and biophysics. An internationally known researcher, Chaudry previously was professor at Brown University in Providence, R.I., and before that at Yale University.

He was recruited to UAB along with a number of other basic science researchers to form the nucleus of the department of surgery’s new center. The center will focus on finding ways to improve diagnosis, treatment and critical care of trauma patients, and on ways to decrease mortality rates due to trauma.

The Center for Surgical Research will involve disciplines including physiology, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, and molecular biology. It will provide a way for basic scientists to collaborate more easily with physician-scientists in the fields of anesthesiology and surgery, including neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, and pediatric surgery.

Chaudry and his colleagues brought to UAB a significant international reputation for research in the basic biology of trauma and trauma treatment. They hold several federally funded grants to study these mechanisms.