Tapan Mehta
Dr. Tapan Mehta has never viewed mentorship as just a professional responsibility, but more as a legacy.
That perspective was recently recognized with the 2025 Graduate Dean’s Excellence in Mentorship Award, a distinction honoring faculty who have gone above and beyond in guiding and supporting graduate trainees at UAB.
For Mehta, vice chair of research in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and a core director of CEDHARS, the award is both a personal milestone and a reflection of the vibrant research and mentoring community he's helped cultivate.
“I’m sort of a product of some excellent mentoring I received in my career,” Mehta said. “So, this has always been extremely important to me—not just to help someone grow professionally, but to invest in their life, their goals, their dreams.”
That investment can be seen in the long list of pre-doctoral students, postdocs and junior faculty he’s guided across disciplines—from public health and rehabilitation sciences to primary care and data science. Two of his mentees, Tanjila Nawshin and Salma Aly, exemplify how Mehta’s influence extends far beyond the classroom.
Nawshin, a doctoral candidate in Health Services Administration and CEDHARS pilot award recipient, has played an instrumental role in several of Mehta’s research efforts, including ongoing pragmatic trials and evaluating the implementation outcomes of the remote patient monitoring program for hypertension and diabetes at UAB. She also contributed to the recently funded PCORI grant.
Meanwhile, Aly, a postdoc working within the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD), now mentors medical students herself—something Mehta calls “profoundly rewarding.”
“When I see my mentees mentoring others, that’s where you feel the impact magnify,” Mehta said. “It’s not like working on just a project. You’re shaping a person who will go on to shape others.”
In his own research, Mehta continues to explore the intersection of clinical innovation and community-based care. His team recently received NIH funding as one of six national hubs for the CARE for Health initiative – a primary care research network aimed at improving equity and access to clinical trials. UAB’s hub, the Primary Care Health Enhancement through Access and Research in Transformative Networks (HEART-NET) in the Deep South, partners with institutions across the Southeast, supports studies on obesity and hearing loss by embedding research with everyday primary care environments.
This initiative, like much of Mehta’s work, reflects his commitment to real-world impact and interdisciplinary collaboration. From biostatistics to disability studies, he’s helped build an ecosystem where team members evolve not only as professionals but as thoughtful, adaptable scientists.
He’s also quick to note that mentorship is not a one-way street.
“You learn from your mentees—how they see the world, what assumptions they challenge,” Mehta said. “It forces you to rethink your own practices. It’s not just about teaching them—it’s also about growing yourself.”
Looking across his mentees’ careers, Mehta sees a broader narrative of transformation: analysts becoming principal investigators, operations staff growing into scientists and medical students embracing inclusive research.
“To see them thrive personally and professionally, there’s no greater joy,” he said.
For Mehta, the award isn’t just an accolade. It’s a reminder of the ripple effect mentorship creates, and how, by lifting others, you build a future that goes far beyond your own work.
