As the volume of data in the digital age continues to grow, so does the evolution of the health care industry. From telehealth and health apps to electronic health records and patient surveys, health care generates vast amounts of data daily. Each second, really.  So, how do we share data from one health care system to another while ensuring it's correct and accessible to the right person at the right time? This is the question Hope Gray, MTS, BCC, a doctoral student in the Administration-Health Services program – Health Informatics track, will work to answer as the recipient of the competitive Health Level Seven International (HL7) Informatics Internship.

Floyd Josephat, EdD., MLS (ASCP), director of the UAB M.S. in Clinical Laboratory Sciences program, has been selected for membership in the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science Honorary Alpha Mu Tau Fraternity. Established in 1948, the AMTF inducts medical laboratory scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the field and have earned national recognition.

W. Timothy Garvey, M.D., was named University Professor in the School of Health Professions Department of Nutrition Sciences. Garvey joined UAB in 2003 as chair of the Department of Nutrition Sciences, where he served until 2018.

Brooks Wingo, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, and Amy Goss, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, are part of a team awarded a $3.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. The investigators will look at diet’s impact on mobility, physical and cognitive function, as well as on pain, fatigue, sleep, mood and anxiety in people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Jewell J. Dickson, OTD, MPH, OTR/L, ATP, FAOTA, associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, was named to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Roster of Fellows for her contributions to championing change through leadership, service, and advocacy.  

Christy Harris Lemak, PhD, FACHE, professor and chair, Department of Health Services Administration, University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been named recipient of the 2022 Gary L. Filerman Prize for Educational Leadership.

At the start of the pandemic, many people became hobbyists — picking up crochet needles, gardening books, or rolling out dough to ease the anxieties brought on by quarantining. For second-year occupational therapy student Julie Anne "JuJu" Dorris, the art of breadmaking crept into her life, influencing her creativity in support of her own well-being. 

As Women's History Month comes to a close, we are reflecting on this year's theme: "Providing Healing, Promoting Hope." It is a tribute to the countless women within the School of Health Professions and beyond who have devoted so much of themselves to improving health care so that others may follow in their footsteps. We asked a few of the many outstanding faculty within our school to talk about their work, in their own words, through the lenses of their identities and experiences. Read their answers below.

In honor of Women's History Month, the School of Health Professions is celebrating the creative, passionate, and driven minds who are blazing the trail for women in their field. From researchers to educators to leaders — these women have inspired so many within SHP, UAB, and beyond.

Sue Feldman, RN, MEd, Ph.D., director, UAB Graduate Programs in Health Informatics, and Wei Li, Ph.D., associate professor, UAB Physician Assistant Studies program, were awarded the UAB Graduate Dean's Excellence in Mentorship Award. The honor recognizes full-time regular UAB faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments as mentors of graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows.

Health quality advocates have supported the idea of a Learning Health System (LHS) for decades. Now, in collaboration with the Center for Outcomes Effectiveness Research and Education (COERE), the UAB Health System is on a journey to develop and implement its own LHS principles to improve patient care.

Lavern Smith, a first-year dual-degree graduate student in the M.S. in Health Administration and M.S. in Health Informatics programs, has been awarded the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Foundation Scholarship. The $5,000 award is only given to one graduate student each year.

February is the time when we keep matters of the heart close to us. Between American Heart Month and Valentine's Day, it's a great opportunity to focus on adopting a healthier lifestyle to prevent cardiovascular disease—the number one leading cause of death in the U.S. 

Tara Harman, MS, RDN, instructor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, shares how nutrition can play a huge role in building a resilient heart to battle against disease.

New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Nutrition Sciences is shedding light on why weight loss may take longer than expected, due to an exaggerated reduction in energy expenditure below predicted values (metabolic adaptation) in women with overweight.

James O. Hill, Ph.D., chair of the University of Alabama at BirminghamDepartment of Nutrition Sciences, has received a five-year, $10.8 million award as part of the Nutrition for Precision Health (NPH) study through the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program.

Paige Bates, UAB MSHA Class 57 President, constantly asks herself: “How can I leave a positive impact on my community?” Read on to learn more about Bates and her vision for the future of health care. 

Introductory Biology II covers a wide range of topics: Students learn about plant parts, cells and life cycles, the animal kingdom, how the heart works, and how the digestive system operates. Laura Calvert, a senior majoring in biomedical sciences, was not having much luck with the often-recommended method of learning — repeatedly sketching the processes and diagrams on paper — and said the idea of traditional study methods “fills me with dread, so any time I can find a way to make the process more interesting, I jump on it.”

Valley McCurry, Ph.D., MBA, OTR/L, received the Alabama Occupational Therapy Association (ALOTA) Elsie Holmes McKibbin Award, the highest honor within the organization. It is presented to those who have made significant contributions to the profession's body of knowledge. 

Five students have been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, we asked the question: What makes you different? 

Katherine Meese, Ph.D., has been named director of the UAB Center for Healthcare Management and Leadership, charged with providing mindful and strategic vision to the center’s programs by using a translational approach to bridge the gap between academia and the evolving healthcare landscape.