CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Susan M. Harding.  Dr. Harding was recently elected to serve a 3-year term as a Regent-at-Large on the Board of Regents of the American College of Chest Physicians.  Dr. Harding is a faculty member in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy & Critical Care Medicine, and is the Director of the UAB Sleep/Wake Disorders Center.

CONGRATULATIONS to Breast cancer researcher Andres Forero, MD, professor in the Department of Hematology and Oncology. Dr. Forero received the Albert F. LoBuglio Distinguished Faculty Award during the 13th annual UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center Research Retreat. He is one of 16 faculty, postdoctoral fellows and students honored. The awards were presented as part of the research competition that included 92 poster presentations this year.

All junior faculty and senior fellows who are planning K award submissions for the February 2010 deadline are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this Program.

• All new applicants for K awards
• K01, K08, K23, K99/R00
• Internal review and feedback to Investigators
• For February 12, 2010 NIH submission:
  • Dec 1, 2009 – Specific Aims page
  • Dec 15, 2009 – Entire grant + Career Development plan
  • Jan 4, 2010 – Feedback to Investigator
• For details, email Dr. Anupam Agarwal, DOM Vice Chair for Research (agarwal@uab.edu)

CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Caroline Nobuko Harada, who was named the Associate Director of the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship effective October 1, 2009. Dr. Harada joined the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care in July 2008. She completed her undergraduate degree in biology at Brown University and obtained her medical degree at Yale University. Subsequently, she completed her internal medicine residency and Geriatric Medicine fellowship at the University of Chicago, where she served on faculty until moving to UAB.

Dr. Ritchie has been selected to serve on the Board of Directors as a Director-at-Large for the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine beginning 2010. She has also been selected to serve on the Palliative and End-of-Life Care Workgroup for the National Priorities Partnership for the National Quality Forum. In addition, Dr. Ritchie has been selected to serve as Co-Chair of the Department of Medicine, Faculty Women’s Committee for a three-year term.

CONGRATULATIONS to Joseph Bloomer, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and director of the Liver Center at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), for receiving the 2009 Distinguished Service Award from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

The AASLD Distinguished Service Award is given to an individual in honor of his or her sustained service to AASLD and/or the liver disease community in general.

Dr. Rodney Tucker was selected to participate in UAB’s First University Day Event as one of the top featured graduates of UAB in the first 40 years. The ceremony was led by Dr. Carol Garrison and UAB Provost Eli Capilouto and featured 40 distinguished UAB alumni representing the graduating classes from 1969 to 2009.

The Division of Hematology and Oncology recently welcomed Dr. Zhi-Xiang Xu to UAB. Dr. Xu received his MD and PhD degrees from Soochow University School of Medicine in Suzhou, China. He was a postdoctoral fellow at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center from 2000 until 2004 when he joined the faculty as Assistant Professor. He has co-authored several articles in high impact journals such as Nature Cell Biology and Molecular Cell.

The main objectives of Dr. Xu’s lab are to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor suppressor function and to develop pharmacological agents that can modulate or mimic tumor suppressors for cancer prevention and treatment. Dr. Xu’s work is currently funded by a R01 award from the NCI.

Dr. Abraham presented the DOM State of the Department on November 4, 2009 at 4pm in West Pavilion E. View the slides from the presentation (pdf).

The annual Fall Clinical Physicians Photo sessions will be held in the West Pavilion Conference Center Lobby 2nd floor on the following dates:

• Tuesday, November 10th: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
• Wednesday, November 11th : 8:00AM – 4:00PM
• Attire: White lab coat

To schedule an appointment contact Carol Pierce (cpierce@uabmc.edu) – but walk-ins are welcome!

The photos will be used on the UAB on-line Physician Directory.