March 3, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Brian Spraberry has been named president and chief executive officer of UAB Callahan Eye Hospital effective April 12.

Spraberry, a Birmingham native who received his master's in health administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), currently serves as chief of business development for the University of Mississippi Medical Center, a position he has held since 2007.

Prior to that, Spraberry was chief operating officer and CEO of Glenwood Regional Medical Center in northeast Louisiana.  He also has served in a management role at Tulane University Medical Center and worked at UAB earlier in his career as director of planning and market research. He received his undergraduate degree in management from Auburn University.

"We are pleased to welcome Brian back home to Birmingham and to the UAB team," said UAB Health System CEO William Ferniany, Ph.D. "He is an experienced health-care executive who brings more than 25 years of applicable industry knowledge and skills with him to this position, and he will play a valuable role on our leadership team."

About UAB and the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital

The UAB Health System includes all of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's patient care activities, including UAB Hospital, the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital (CEFH) and The Kirklin Clinic. The CEFH, which first opened its doors to the public in 1963, became a part of the Health System in 1997. Its mission is to provide quality eye care, offer an ophthalmology residency program and participate cooperatively with UAB in the research of eye diseases. It offers the only 24-hour, seven-day a week eye emergency room in the state of Alabama.

 UAB is the state of Alabama's largest employer and an internationally renowned research university and academic health center whose professional schools and specialty patient care programs are consistently ranked as among the nation's top 50; find more information at www.uab.edu and www.uabmedicine.org.