Students/Faculty

For decades, Americans have fought a losing battle with obesity. Between 1960 and 2010, the prevalence of adult obesity in the United States nearly tripled, to 36% from 13%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It isn’t as if many Americans don’t recognize the problem. According to 2018 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, just under half of adults in the United States (49.1%) tried to lose weight in the prior 12 months. Nevertheless, according to CDC data, the obesity rate that year rose to a record 42.4%.

Shannon H. Houser, Ph.D., MPH, RHIA, FAHIMA, professor in the UAB Department of Health Services Administration, will receive the 2020 AAHIM Distinguished Member Award from the Alabama Association of Health Information Management. The award is given annually to an active member with at least 10 years’ experience “marked by distinction, excellence of service and contribution to the profession.”

Monica Aswani, DrPH, assistant professor in the UAB School of Health Professions’ Department of Health Services Administration, will receive a UAB National Alumni Society (NAS) Young Alumni Rising Star Award at a ceremony on September 19, 2019, at the UAB Alumni House.

Monica S. Aswani, DrPH, assistant professor in the UAB School of Health Professions’ Department of Health Services Administration, wins the 2019 International Health Economics Association (iHEA) Student Prize for her paper titled “Differential Impact of Hospital and Community Factors on Medicare Readmission Penalties”.

Gavin Jenkins, Ph.D., has been named chair of the UAB Department of Occupational Therapy. Jenkins, whose research interests include assistive technology, pedagogical affect, learning performance, and the influence of green spaces and built environment on occupational participation, has worked and researched in the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Class 1: XIAN Medical University / UAB MSHA program on UAB campus in 1987Trevor Chen was a member of the only class of the UAB School of Health Professions' (SHP) Master of Science in Health Administration (MSHA) Sino-American Joint Program in 1989. The unique program sponsored by Project HOPE lost its funding when USAID funds were shifted to the Newly Independent States after the demise of the Soviet Union.