Through an internship with UAB HR Talent Acquisition, Birmingham City Schools student Kendall Petties gained skills and experience and helped inform UAB’s employee recruitment and retention efforts.

Lisa Willett, M.D., MACM, has been awarded the 2024 Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching. This annual award, hosted by the UAB Office of the Provost, celebrates a UAB faculty member who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to teaching.

After an extensive national search, UAB has named Kevyn E. Merten, Ph.D., as the senior associate vice president for Research Operations, effective Jan. 14. Merten will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Office of Research. He joins UAB from the University of Louisville.

Innovative programs and a high-profile position in the International Health Promoting Campuses Network have made UAB a model for other universities in the United States and beyond.

Cora Brasfield Causey, Ph.D., assistant professor in the School of Education and Human Sciences, is the recipient of the 2024 Odessa Woolfolk Community Service Award. This prestigious award, hosted by the UAB Office of the Provost, recognizes a UAB faculty member who has rendered outstanding service to the Birmingham community.

James Rimmer, Ph.D., professor and inaugural Lakeshore Foundation Endowed Chair in Health Promotion and Rehabilitation Sciences in the School of Health Professions, has earned the 2024 Sam Brown Bridge Builder Award, which recognizes a UAB faculty member who engages in interdisciplinary, collaborative efforts across campus.

Christian Lopez Blanco, a doctoral student in UAB’s neuroengineering program, pitched his idea to industry leaders at the major BIO convention in San Diego as part of the Bio-Entrepreneurship Capstone program from the National Institutes of Health.

Michele Forman, Samantha Giordano-Mooga and Joe March demonstrated extraordinary commitment to engaging undergraduate students in service learning, undergraduate research and core teaching.

The 2024 honorees for the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching represent each school, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Honors College, and the Graduate School.

Peter Bosworth, Lakesha Johnson and Lee O’Neil are the third-quarter 2024 honorees of the UAB Shared Values in Action Program, which honors those whose work exemplifies and embodies Forging Ahead’s shared values. Nominations for fourth-quarter 2024 honorees are open through Oct. 9.

UAB Chief Financial Officer Stephanie Mullins will serve as UAB’s inaugural Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, effective Oct. 1.

“Collaborate” and “Excel” are two of UAB’s four Shared Values: We CARE. Brad Steele, J.D., grants and contracts officer in the Office of Sponsored Programs, is an example of those values in action. Steele was recently selected for the Future of the Field award from the Society of Research Administrators International. Here is why.

Through an internship with UAB HR Talent Acquisition, Birmingham City Schools student Jaykease Rosales gained skills and experience and proved to be a strong asset to UAB’s employee recruitment and retention efforts.

John Huffstutler, Nancy Parsons and Angel Simmons are the second-quarter 2024 honorees of the UAB Values in Action Program. Nominations for third-quarter 2024 honorees are open through July 11.

The UA System Board of Trustees awarded the rank of Distinguished Professor to Robert Brunner, Yogesh Dwivedi, Helen Krontiras, Cora Elizabeth Lewis, David M. Morris and Michele H. Nichols and the rank of University Professor to Marie Bakitas, Mirjam-Colette Kempf, Verna Keith, Michael Neiderweis and David Vance during its meeting in April 2024.

Have AI models made human creativity obsolete? Lindsay Brainard, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy, received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to pursue an inquiry into the future of creativity — and present her work at the World Congress of Philosophy in Rome this August.

Nicolaas Geurs, D.D.S., M.S., inaugural holder of UAB's Weatherford-Palcanis Endowed Professorship in Dentistry and the Dental Alumni-Joseph F. Volker Chair of Clinical Dentistry, has been selected as the next dean of the UAB School of Dentistry following a national search. He will begin his new role June 1.

Annalise Sorrentino, M.D., professor in the Department of Pediatrics, will take on the role Oct. 1, 2024. She replaces Frank Messina, Ph.D., professor in the Collat School of Business, who has served as UAB’s FAR since 2008 and is retiring from UAB at the end of September.

Johnny W. Scott, M.D., Ph.D., professor of nuclear medicine in the Department of Radiology, graduated from the School of Medicine in 1975 and has been a member of the faculty since 1978. Last month, he was honored for 45 years of service.

Olakunle Alonge, M.D., Ph.D., an expert in implementation science, joined UAB in 2023 as the center’s new director. In July, it will host an intensive implementation research institute with an emphasis on health inequities.

The Commission on the Status of Women awarded Jesse Rattan, Ph.D., Mitzi Swift, Grace Jepkemboi Komol, Ph.D., Amanda Watts and Jewell Dickson-Clayton for their commitments to providing significant service to and advancing issues that primarily affect underrepresented populations.

Richard O. Davis, M.D., will be honored for 50 years of service to UAB at the annual Service Awards Program Reception on April 10 in the Hill Student Center.

Sheryl LeAnn Perkins, DHA, will join Human Resources May 6 from the Arkansas State University System, where she oversaw the system's $10 million self-insured health plan fund.

Donna Andrews came to UAB to keep a promise to her mother. Working here was just her path to that goal of getting her four-year degree. But two diplomas and countless students and events later, this longtime staffer in the University Honors Program has created a legacy that will outlast her — whenever she retires.

Victor Jordan, an Instrument and Control Technician in the Energy Management department of UAB Facilities, is one of three employees who will be honored for 45 years of service to UAB on April 10.

Meek, a junior majoring in entrepreneurship, also is training as a GivePulse ambassador in her role at the Office of Service Learning and Undergraduate Research.

Vern Bush, Kevin Davis and Brittany Martin are the first-quarter 2024 honorees of the UAB Values in Action Program. Nominations for second-quarter 2024 honorees are open through April 24.

Alan T.N. Tita, M.D., Ph.D., has led some of the most notable clinical trials in recent years in obstetrics and gynecology. Now he has been selected for the academic medical center’s highest faculty honor.

Woodruff-Borden, who joined UAB as senior vice president of Academic Affairs and provost on Feb. 1, shares how UAB’s bold culture attracted her to Birmingham, outlines her priorities and points to several opportunities for growth.

Carolina Harada, M.D., professor in the Department of Medical Education, received HSF-GEF grants to provide mentorship and recognition for junior faculty clinician educators at all six health professions schools at UAB. Participants have been promoted, published research, taken on leadership roles and won teaching awards.