Nicollette Houston-Turner and Yesi Villanueva, two students from the UAB School of Health Professions, were among the largest group of students selected for the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. The Gilman scholarship strives to widen the range of students eligible to experience studying abroad. The program is intent on encouraging students to study and learn in an array of countries and world regions.

Ana Oliveira, DrPH, assistant professor in the Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences, has been honored with the Provost's Award for Faculty Excellence.

Yael Bar-Peled, a second-year student in the UAB M.S. in Genetic Counseling program is one of only 12 in the U.S. to receive the Association for Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) Scholarship of Excellence. The annual scholarship recognizes students in health professions who are achieving excellence in their academic programs and have significant potential to assume future leadership roles in healthcare.

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.

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.”

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? 

Muhammad Jan, a second-year student in our Physician Assistant Studies program, has been selected by the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) for the 2021-2022 Future Educator Fellowship. He is one of only 15 from the entire country chosen for the prestigious position.

Krystle W. Glasgow, MIS, CNMT, NMTCB(CT), NMAA, FSNMMI-TS, clinical coordinator in the UAB M.S. in Nuclear Medicine Technology program, has been elected as the 2021-2022 president-elect of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Technologist Section (SNMMI-TS). This is a three-year commitment as president-elect, president, and past-president of this national society.

Allyson Ferguson, a senior in our B.S. in Biomedical Sciences program and a member of UAB Honors College, has been named a semifinalist in this year’s Fulbright U.S. Student Program competition.

The School of Health Professions (SHP) Student Awards, for the fall semester of 2020, were managed by the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) with endorsement from the Program Directors. Due to COVID-19, we were not able to recognize our exceptional students with an award ceremony. Nonetheless, it does not diminish their excellence or their accomplishments.

Many members of the School of Health Professions made service and service-learning a priority at the end of 2020. The SHP Staff Council hosted an SHP-wide holiday drive and the freshman course HRP 101: Experiencing the University Transition for Health Professions saw 14 teams of students support 11 community partners.

Krystle Glasgow, CNMT, NMTCB(CT), NMAA, a teacher in the UAB School of Health Professions, has been recognized as a Fellow by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging – Technologist Section. She is one of only three in the state of Alabama to earn the prestigious honor.

On December 2, 2020, Dina V. Avery, DHSc, MA, MAEd, was elected chairperson of the Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition. The ACCCC is a statewide network of physicians, organizations, medical groups, cancer patients, cancer survivors and more. They are dedicated to reducing the incidence, morbidity and mortality of cancer in Alabama.

Benjamin Abney, a Physician Assistant Studies student expected to graduate December 2021, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to five SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, there were nearly 100 submissions to the question: What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Five members of the UAB School of Health Professions faculty earned certificates for completing the National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy (NIXLA). Members of the Class of 2019 are Dina Avery, DHSc, Brenda Bertrand, Ph.D., April Rollins-Kyle, MAEd, Sarah Tucker, Ph.D., and Neena Xavier, M.D.

Floyd Josephat, EdD, MT(ASCP), program director, UAB School of Health Professions' M.S. in Clinical Laboratory Sciences (MSCLS) program, conducted a workshop on Real Life Case Study at the Caribbean Association of Medical Technologists National Symposium in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Real Life Case Study is a unique teaching strategy and empirical inquiry that allows students to investigate diseases within its real-life context. It provides students the opportunity to work on these cases simultaneously as physicians and other members of the healthcare team are working on the same cases.

In his presentation, Josephat stressed the benefit of integrating this technique into the classroom and explained how he implemented it into the UAB MSCLS program. He says teaching this technique accomplishes three specific things:

1. Requires students think critically about the situation.
2. Prepares students to apply decision-making to real-life situations.
3. Develops students’ research skills.

Josephat, who presented to an international group of Clinical Laboratory Scientists, Medical Technologists, Cytotechnologists and Physicians, also pointed out that the program better prepares students to solve or address disease processes by making sense of information using creative, intuitive, logical and analytical mental processes.

For the third year in a row, a team from our Physician Assistant Studies program wins the UAB Gurney Derby!

Andrew Butler, Ph.D., dean of the UAB School of Health Professions, was recently elected to the Lakeshore Foundation and the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions Board of Directors. Butler, who became dean of SHP in July 2019, came to UAB from the Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions at Georgia State University where he was associate dean for Research and director of the Clinical Neuroplasticity Lab.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham launches the pilot class of the UAB Healthcare Educators Academy at an opening ceremony and reception on September 17, 2019. The HEA is a strategic partnership between the UAB Schools of Medicine, Health Professions, Dentistry, Public Health and Nursing designed to strengthen educators through mentorship that fosters a culture of excellence, develops innovative teaching resources and advances a collaborative environment.

Kayla Stinson, a UAB School of Health Professions’ M.S. in Health Physics second-year student, was awarded a prize for her research presentation at the Health Physics Society annual meeting on July 7, 2019.