At the Heersink School of Medicine, biomedical research is not only a critical pillar of our tripartite mission, but also the fertile ground out of which advancements in medicine and health care grow. The “bench to bedside” research pathway translates discoveries of the cellular mechanisms of disease into cutting-edge treatments that offer hope for patients here in Alabama and around the globe.
We are fortunate that our school’s research enterprise has been strongly supported by funding from multiple federal entities, most notably from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This month, I want to spotlight a few examples of federally funded research at UAB with significant impact on patient care for the people of Alabama and beyond.
Chronic Diseases
In 2020, UAB joined the NIH-funded Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (EMERGE) Genomic Risk Assessment and Management Network, which seeks to leverage the power of genomics to predict and prevent 11 common chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. EMERGE has enrolled and returned genomic informed risk assessments—which evaluate genomic, family history, and clinical risk factors—to approximately 25,000 adult and pediatric patients at UAB and nine other participating institutions.
UAB’s team, led by principal investigator Nita Limdi, Pharm.D., Ph.D., Ray L. Watts, M.D.-Heersink Endowed Chair in the Department of Neurology and associate dean for Genomic Medicine, exceeded its patient recruitment goal and set the standard for ensuring complete and accurate data collection for all patients. Risk assessment reports were returned to patients and their physicians by last November.
Dr. Limdi is leading the outcomes and analysis phase to assess implementation of report recommendations and patient outcomes. Through this work, the EMERGE network is establishing a scalable framework for integrating genomics into clinical care and evaluating the effectiveness of genome-based approaches in predicting and preventing common chronic diseases.
As announced June 25, 2025, the UAB startup TIXiMED, Inc., successfully completed a Phase 1 single ascending dose study of the drug TIX100 in humans, a critical milestone in the development of a first-of-its-kind oral therapy for Type 1 diabetes (T1D). TIX100 is a small molecule that addresses an underlying cause of T1D by targeting thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP), a protein that is elevated in people with diabetes and leads to beta cell death and pancreatic islet dysfunction.
Anath Shalev, M.D., Nancy R. and Eugene C. Gwaltney Family Endowed Chair in Juvenile Diabetes Research in the UAB Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, and director of the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center, has studied TXNIP for decades and founded TIXiMED in 2021. She led the Phase 1 clinical trial that confirmed TIX100 to be safe and well-tolerated in healthy subjects. Moreover, Dr. Shalev reported, “a promising metabolic TIX100 signal became evident at the human dose predicted to be efficacious in preclinical models,” findings that bring TIXiMED closer to delivering a novel oral disease-modifying therapy for all stages of diabetes.
Maternal Health
Alabama’s maternal and infant health ranks among the lowest in the U.S., making the Chronic Hypertension and Pregnancy (CHAP) trial, led by principal investigator Alan Tita, M.D., Ph.D., Mary Heersink Endowed Chair of Global Health, director of the Mary Heersink Institute of Global Health, and senior associate dean for Global and Women’s Health, particularly significant. This UAB-led, large-scale, collaborative trial provided critical information on management of chronic hypertension during pregnancy, resulting in better outcomes for the mother and newborn. This trial led to immediate changes in clinical care guidelines by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. The study received a Clinical Research Forum 2023 Top 10 award and the No. 1 Clinical Research Achievement Award for the best clinical research nationally. CHAP was also named the David Sackett Trial of the Year by the Society of Clinical Trials in 2023. This work continues through NIH-funded, long-term, follow-up studies of mothers and children from CHAP and a preeclampsia epigenetics study.
Neurological Disease
Alabama is in the heart of the “Stroke Belt,” an eight-state region of the Southeast recognized as having the highest rates of stroke in the U.S. UAB joined the StrokeNet national clinical trials network under the leadership of Toby Gropen, M.D., James H. Halsey Jr., M.D., Endowed Professor of Neurology, director of the Division of Cerebrovascular Disease, Department of Neurology, and director of the UAB Comprehensive Neurovascular and Stroke Center. The StrokeNet network of more than 500 hospitals serves as a robust infrastructure and pipeline for promising, innovative clinical trials for patients who have suffered a stroke or are at risk of experiencing one.
Specifically, UAB is one of 27 regional coordinating centers in the StrokeNet network. UAB’s coordinating center, the StrokeBelt StrokeNet (SBSN), leverages the established infrastructure, basic science and clinical stroke expertise, and clinical trial expertise at UAB and partner institutions in the Southeast. The SBSN offers combined access to nearly 3,500 acute stroke patients annually in an underserved part of the U.S.
The NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), led by Erik Roberson, M.D., Ph.D., Rebecca Gale–Heersink Endowed Chair for Alzheimer’s Disease in the Department of Neurology, is focused on understanding the reasons for higher rates of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in Alabama and the Deep South.
Center investigators are also studying the functioning of the healthy brain as well as causes of Alzheimer’s disease and dementias. A recent discovery from center investigator Jeremy Herskowitz, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurology, and colleagues published in Nature Neuroscience identifies, for the first time, hundreds of brain proteins that explain inter-individual differences in functional connectivity and structural covariation in the human brain. This is an important step toward an understanding of the brain that ultimately describes the mechanistic basis of human cognition and behavior.
Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal cancers, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common type of pancreatic cancer. Bassel El-Rayes, M.D., Albert F. LoBuglio Endowed Chair for Translational Cancer Research and director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, and Mehmet Akce, M.D., associate professor of Hematology and Oncology, are co-leading a clinical trial at UAB to test ProAgio, an innovative protein drug with a distinct mechanism of action from currently available therapies, in patients with PDAC. The researchers hypothesize that ProAgio will enhance drug delivery and increase the sensitivity of PDAC to established cancer therapies. The trial has enrolled eight patients and Dr. El-Rayes shared that they have seen no adverse side effects from combining ProAgio with standard chemotherapy.
These examples represent just a fraction of the groundbreaking research taking place at the Heersink School of Medicine. Every day across every department and unit in our school, our investigators are driving discoveries that improve lives here at home and around the world. As we continue to support our research enterprise, we remain committed to translating scientific insights into real-world impact—advancing health and hope for all.