September 24, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Holly E. Richter, Ph.D., M.D., has been named to the James Marion Sims Endowed Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology in the School of Medicine at UAB. The appointment was made by the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees at its Sept. 19 meeting.

As director of the UAB Division of Women's Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Richter has led the program to national prominence as a center of excellence in patient care, education and research. In 2001, with Dr. Richer as principal investigator, UAB was one of only three sites funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to participate in both the NIDDK Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network and the NICHD Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.

She has presented at a number of scientific meetings, including the Society for Gynecologic Surgeons, the American Urogynecologic Society, the International Continence Society and the International Consultation on Incontinence. She also has had 117 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has been an ad hoc reviewer for a number of peer-reviewed publications, including the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and International Urogynecology Journal. 

Richter earner her bachelor's and doctorate at the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 1977 and 1981, respectively, and her medical degree at UAB in 1992. Richter has been a member of the faculty in the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology since 1996.

The endowed chair is named in memory of the late Dr. Sims  and was established in 1985 to support important medical research, with particular emphasis on obstetrics and gynecology.