November 2025 marked the first anniversary of UAB Medicine’s acquisition of the St. Vincent’s Health System, a milestone that reshaped healthcare in Alabama. The $450 million acquisition brought five hospitals and more than 5,200 associates under the UAB Medicine umbrella, positioning UAB Medicine as the largest health system in the state. With 872 additional licensed beds across UAB St. Vincent’s five campuses, the UAB Health System now encompasses a total of 3,173 beds. And the growth continues: UAB Health System's acquisition of Southview Medical Group, a multi-specialty practice in central Alabama, was finalized Jan. 1, 2026.
UAB St. Vincent’s saw significant growth in key service areas: Hospital discharges increased 6 percent, and surgical volume, obstetric deliveries, and emergency visits all increased. UAB Family and Community Medicine opened a new clinic at UAB St. Vincent’s East in August, offering preventative health screenings, pediatrics, chronic disease management, physical exams, and treatment for acute conditions.
Expanding mental healthcare for young people is the goal of a new trio of early-intervention clinics in the UAB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology. The TEAM Clinics—Treatment, Evaluation and Multidisciplinary Approaches for Mental Health—focus on first-episode psychosis, mood disorders, and substance use disorders, conditions that often emerge in adolescence and early adulthood. The program builds on the success of UAB’s First Episode Psychosis Clinic, launched in 2011, which introduced a team-based model that brings together adult and child psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to provide rapid, comprehensive care.
That collaborative approach, paired with strong family education, proved highly effective. In 2024 and 2025, UAB added TEAM Clinics dedicated to mood and substance use disorders. The clinics offer the wraparound care UAB is known for, with frequent follow-up during periods of instability, and serve as an important training site for child and adolescent psychiatry fellows.
In August 2025, the department opened a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Clinic, a significant step forward in expanding access to a cutting-edge therapy for treatment-resistant depression. TMS is an FDA-approved treatment that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain, particularly targeting areas involved in mood regulation. It has shown promising results in reducing symptoms of depression, especially in patients who have not found relief through medication or psychotherapy.
As announced in November 2025, more than 10,000 Alabamians have received genetic testing that could change the course of their health through the Alabama Genomic Health Initiative (AGHI). Supported by the State of Alabama, AGHI, led by the UAB and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, aims to make precision medicine available to all Alabamians. Representing all 67 counties, participants receive personalized results explained by local genetics professionals—including geneticists, genetic counselors, and pharmacists—ensuring clarity and support in understanding their health risks.