The University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
located in
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
, United States with branch campuses in
Huntsville
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...
,
Montgomery, and at the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...
College of Community Health Sciences in
Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...
. Residency programs are also located in
Selma
Selma may refer to:
Places
* Selma, Algeria
*Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada
*Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons
United States:
*Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches
*Selma, Arkansas
*Selma, Cal ...
, Huntsville and Montgomery. It is part of the
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...
(UAB).
History
Founding and growth
The School of Medicine at UAB can trace its roots to the 1859 founding of the Medical College of Alabama in
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
. The move of the college from Mobile to Tuscaloosa took effect in 1920.
In 1936, the University of Alabama Extension Center was opened in Birmingham. In 1943, Governor
Chauncey Sparks
George Chauncey Sparks (October 8, 1884 – November 6, 1968), known as Chauncey Sparks, was an attorney and Democratic American politician who served as the 41st Governor of Alabama from 1943 to 1947. He made improvements to state education o ...
created the four-year Medical College of Alabama with the passage of the Jones Bill (Alabama Act 89). In 1944, Roy R. Kracke was named dean of the Medical College of Alabama and began assembling teaching staff.
In 1945, the Medical College of Alabama was moved from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham and the university's medical center was founded. In November 1966, the Extension Center and the Medical Center were merged to form the "University of Alabama in Birmingham," an organizational component of The University of Alabama. In 1969, UAB became an independent institution, one of three autonomous universities within the newly created
University of Alabama System
The University of Alabama System is a public university system in Alabama that coordinates and oversees three research universities: University of Alabama (UA), University of Alabama at Birmingham, and University of Alabama in Huntsville. These u ...
. The university's name was changed in 1984 from the "University of Alabama ''in'' Birmingham" to the "University of Alabama ''at'' Birmingham."
The UAB School of Medicine is home of The Kirklin Clinic, a multi-disciplinary medical home; University Hospital, one of the largest academic hospitals in the country; and faculty serve the new Children's of Alabama hospital.
Leadership
![Selwyn Vickers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Selwyn_Vickers.jpg)
On August 15, 2013, UAB announced Selwyn Vickers, M.D., would be the next senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the School of Medicine effective October 15, 2013. Vickers spent his formative years as a young faculty member at UAB, beginning in 1994, and he directed the section of gastrointestinal surgery from 2000 to 2006. He was previously the Jay Phillips Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Anupam Agarwal, M.D., served as interim dean of the School of Medicine for eight months from February to October 2013 after Ray Watts, M.D., former dean of the School of Medicine, was named the seventh president of UAB in January 2013. Agarwal returned to his position as director of the Division of Nephrology and vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine on October 15, 2013.
Campuses
The main campus of the School of Medicine at UAB is located in Birmingham, not to be confused with the original University of Alabama campus located in Tuscaloosa, AL.
Tuscaloosa
In 1974 the University of Alabama created the College of Community Health Sciences. This is a college organized under the University of Alabama, and in conjunction with the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine provides medical education for the 3rd and 4th years of students who choose to study in Tuscaloosa.
Huntsville
The School of Medicine maintains a branch campus in Huntsville affiliated with
Huntsville Hospital
The Huntsville Hospital Health System, also known as Huntsville Hospital, is a public, not-for-profit hospital organization consisting of several sites and buildings originating in the downtown area of Huntsville, Alabama. The Huntsville Hospital ...
. The Huntsville campus was originally a part of the
University of Alabama in Huntsville
The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is a public research university in Huntsville, Alabama. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and comprises nine colleges: arts, humanities & social science ...
; however, in 1974 UAB assumed control over the Huntsville program.
Montgomery
UAB's Montgomery campus is a collaborative effort among UAB, Baptist Health and the city of Montgomery. Beginning in May 2014, 10 third-year medical students began taking classes in Montgomery.
Distinctions
*In 1960, Dr.
Basil Hirschowitz
Basil Isaac Hirschowitz (29 May 1925 – 19 January 2013) was an academic gastroenterologist from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) best known in the field for having invented an improved optical fiber which allowed the creation of ...
was the first to explore the stomach with his new invention, the fiber-optic
endoscope
An endoscope is an inspection instrument composed of image sensor, optical lens, light source and mechanical device, which is used to look deep into the body by way of openings such as the mouth or anus. A typical endoscope applies several modern t ...
, which is now in the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
.
*UAB heart surgeon, the late
John W. Kirklin
John Webster Kirklin (April 5, 1917 – April 21, 2004) was an American cardiothoracic surgeon, general surgeon, prolific author and medical educator who is best remembered for refining John Heysham Gibbon, John Gibbon's cardiopulmonary bypass, h ...
, developed a computerized
intensive care unit
220px, Intensive care unit
An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensiv ...
that became a model for modern ICUs around the world. They help improve care and reduce complications. Kirklin initially gained fame by improving the safety and usefulness of the heart-lung bypass pump.
*The
Diabetes
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...
Research and Education Hospital was dedicated in March 1973, as the first public, university-affiliated diabetes hospital in the nation.
*In 1977, Dr. Richard Whitley administered systemic antiviral for the treatment of the deadly HSV (
herpes simplex virus
Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), also known by their taxonomical names ''Human alphaherpesvirus 1'' and '' Human alphaherpesvirus 2'', are two members of the human ''Herpesviridae'' family, a set of viruses that produce viral inf ...
) encephalitis, leading to the world's first effective treatment for a viral disease.
*The first use in the United States of color doppler
echocardiography
An echocardiography, echocardiogram, cardiac echo or simply an echo, is an ultrasound of the heart.
It is a type of medical imaging of the heart, using standard ultrasound or Doppler ultrasound.
Echocardiography has become routinely used in t ...
for visualizing internal cardiac structures was introduced by Dr. Navin C. Nanda and occurred at UAB Hospital in 1984.
*In 1986, Dr.
Thomas N. James, then chairman of UAB's Department of Medicine, presided over the tenth
World Congress of Cardiology
The World Heart Federation (WHF) is a non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, formed in 1972. The current President for World Heart Federation is Fausto Pinto.
In 1978 the International Society of Cardiology merged with the Int ...
held in Washington, D.C.
*World's first genetically engineered mouse-human
monoclonal antibody
A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell Lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell.
Monoclonal antibodies ca ...
was used at University Hospital in the treatment of cancer in 1987.
*Dr. John Richard Montgomery, known for co-implementing the environmental bubble used to protect
David Vetter
David Phillip Vetter (September 21, 1971 – February 22, 1984) was an American who was a prominent sufferer of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a hereditary disease which dramatically weakens the immune system. Individuals born wit ...
, has served as the chief of pediatric programs at the Huntsville campus.
*The first simultaneous heart-kidney transplant in the
Southeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
was performed at UAB by doctors
David C. McGiffin and
David Laskow in 1995.
*The journal ''
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'' named three UAB faculty, doctors
Michael Saag, George Shaw, and
Beatrice Hahn, among the top 10 AIDS researchers in the country, and highlighted the AIDS research program at UAB in 1996.
*The
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
Vaccine Evaluation Unit (AVEU) became the first evaluation unit to enter a Phase III trial of an AIDS vaccine in 1999.
*UAB's Kidney Transplantation Program is the world's leading
transplant
Transplant or Transplantation may refer to:
Sciences
*Transplanting a plant from one location to another
*Organ transplantation, moving an organ from one body to another
*Transplant thought experiment, an experiment similar to Trolley problem
*Tra ...
program, with more than 5,000 transplants being performed since 1968. In each of the last seven years, more kidney transplants have been performed at UAB than at any other institution in the world. UAB is also a national leader in other organ transplants.
*The UAB AIDS Center was the first to perform clinical trials of the protease inhibitor Indinavir (Crixivan), one of the first protease inhibitors used in the
riple-drug cocktailto fight
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
.
*UAB hosts one of only 45
Medical Scientist Training Program
The Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTPs) are dual-degree training programs that streamline the education towards both clinical (typically MD) and research doctoral degrees. MSTPs are offered by some United States medical schools, who are aw ...
s in the country. A highly selective program funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the UAB MSTP offers students the ability to earn both an M.D. and a Ph.D during a 6- to 8-year time period. During this time, all tuition is waived and a stipend of $25,000 per year is awarded. Generally, 6 to 10 students per year are admitted to the program.
*UAB pioneered and performed the first successful surgery involving the transplant of a kidney from a pig into a human. The kidney was transplanted to a brain dead human, whose body successfully accepted the kidney and began producing urine as a normal kidney would. This is the world’s first peer-reviewed successful transplant of its type.
Rankings
*In the 2022 edition of ''
U.S. News & World Report'', the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine was ranked No. 26 nationally in primary care and 32 research.
Notable faculty and alumni
*Dr.
Tinsley R. Harrison
Tinsley Randolph Harrison (March 18, 1900 – August 4, 1978) was an American physician and editor of the first five editions of ''Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine''. Harrison specialized in cardiology and the pathophysiology of hea ...
, who served as dean of the Medical School and chair of the Department of Medicine, was the editor of the first five editions of ''
Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
''Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine'' is an American textbook of internal medicine. First published in 1950, it is in its 21st edition (published in 2022 by McGraw-Hill Professional ) and comes in two volumes. Although it is aimed at a ...
''.
*
Regina Benjamin
Regina Marcia Benjamin (born October 26, 1956) is an American physician and a former vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. Benjamin previously directed a n ...
, former Surgeon General, attained her medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine.
*
Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases
*
Michael Saag, physician and prominent HIV/AIDS researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine
*
Regina Benjamin
Regina Marcia Benjamin (born October 26, 1956) is an American physician and a former vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. Benjamin previously directed a n ...
, former
Surgeon General of the United States
The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. Th ...
*Steven Rowe, physician and prominent
cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. O ...
researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, director of the Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
*
W. Timothy Garvey W. Timothy Garvey is an American endocrinologist and Butterworth Professor of Medicine in the department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. He is known for his work on diabetes and is director of the medical schoo ...
, Butterworth Professor of Medicine, Director of Diabetes Research Center
*
Marie-Carmelle Elie, Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, first Black woman to chair an Emergency Medicine department at a major American medical school
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:University of Alabama at Birmingham School Of Medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
Medical schools in Alabama
Alabama, Medicine
Universities and colleges in Birmingham, Alabama
1859 establishments in Alabama