Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center
From Pfizer and Harvard Medical School to Southern Research and now UAB, Corinne Augelli-Szafran, Ph.D., has dedicated her career to accelerating the path from laboratory discoveries to patient treatments. Now a faculty leader in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, she is helping shape the future of drug discovery at Heersink.
In May 2025, after more than 30 years at The University of Iowa, John Engelhardt, Ph.D., packed up his laboratory and traveled 881 miles to Birmingham to begin a new chapter in advancing cystic fibrosis (CF) and drug development research at UAB. For Engelhardt, the move wasn’t just about his personal success—it was about building something transformative for translational medicine while creating new opportunities for the team he has mentored and worked alongside for decades.
Bradford A. Woodworth, M.D., FACS, James J. Hicks Endowed Professor of Otolaryngology in the UAB Department of Otolaryngology, has been appointed to the rank of Distinguished Professor.
After a national search, Brian R. Davis, Ph.D., has been named the director of the UAB Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center (CFRC), effective July 1.
J. Edwin Blalock, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, has received a seven year $7 million R35 Outstanding Investigator grant from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the NIH for his project “Pathogenic Exosomes in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).”
Veena Antony, M.D., professor in the Department of Medicine's Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, is the senior faculty winner of the Dean's Excellence Award in Research. Antony's research is focused on environmental and translational medicine, cystic fibrosis, pleural disease, and lung injury.
J. Edwin “Ed” Blalock, Ph.D., professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, has been awarded the 2022 Dean’s Excellence Awards in Mentorship.