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Spectrum
News from SHP programs, departments, and faculty
Department of Occupational Therapy
Vivian Yvonne Madison (’73) received a clinical doctorate in occupational therapy in May 2006. Madison is the owner of JLT Therapeutic Services, Inc.
Department of Health Services Administration
Looking Sharp
  • Muzna Mirza, M.D., a graduate student in the health informatics program, won the 2007 Healthlink Informatics Scholarship from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The scholarship is awarded to a student pursuing an advanced degree (master‘s or Ph.D.) in the field of health-care informatics. It includes a $7,000 scholarship award and an all-expense paid trip to the annual HIMSS Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans, where the scholarship was presented. Mirza is the second consecutive winner of the scholarship from uAB, following 2006 recipient Devashish Saini, M.D. Mirza also won the President’s Award from the Alabama chapter of HIMSS in November for academic excellence and leadership activities.
  • UAB is one of the 18 institutions selected to be part of the leadership consortium for the Core Commitments project. Team members, which included Midge Ray from the Department of Health Services Administration, attended an organizational meeting in Washington, D.C., last spring.
  • Lucretia Johnson, a senior in the health information management program, won first place in the Oral Presentation Competition at the Sixth Annual university of Alabama System Honors Research Day in April. She was awarded a $150 cash prize for her presentation on “Implementation of the Electronic Health Record among Alabama Hospitals.”
  • Department of Health Services Administration Faculty members s. robert Hernandez, DrpH, and richard M. shewchuk, ph.D., have been named co-editors of the Journal of Health Administration Education effective July 1, 2007.
Department of Nutrition Sciences
Douglas c. Heimburger, M.D., recently completed a six-month sabbatical in Zambia, where he initiated nutrition research in a large cohort of HIV/AIDS patients being treated at the uAB Centre for Infectious Disease Research. Scientists at the center are designing interventions to address and reduce mortality rates among patients who experience refeeding syndrome after beginning antiretroviral drug therapy.

The American Society for Nutrition recently awarded its annual roland l. weinsier award for Excellence in Medical/Dental Nutrition Education to Sachiko St. Jeor, Ph.D., R.D., director of the Center for Nutrition and Metabolic Disorders at the university of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno. The award is named in memory of longtime SHP faculty member and former department chair Roland Weinsier, Ph.D.

Jose Fernandez, ph.D., an associate professor of nutrition sciences, recently received the President‘s Faculty Diversity Award.

Department of Diagnostic and Therapetic Sciences
A textbook edited by George a. Fritsma, an associate professor in the pathology and clinical laboratory sciences program, was published earlier this year. The book, Hematology: Clinical Perspectives and Applications, Third Edition, is the definitive laboratory hematology book for pathologists, pathology residents, hematologists, hematology-oncology fellows, medicine residents, and clinical laboratory scientists. UAB contributors include Margaret G. Fritsma, Vishnu V.B. Reddy, M.D., Marisa B. Marques, M.D., and Peter D. Emanuel, M.D.
Retirements
Cara C. Adams, Physical Therapy

George A. Fritsma, Clinical Laboratory Sciences

Sara S. Grostick, Health Information Management

Cheryl J. Knowles, Physical Therapy

Randal H. Robertson, Health Sciences

Ann Steves, Nuclear Medicine Technology

Beverly Smith, Administration and Fiscal Services

Michael A. Thompson, Nuclear Medicine Technology

Grostick Endowed Award Unveiled in Denver
in October, the american health information Management association hosted its annual convention in Denver, Colorado. Several alumni, faculty, and friends attended the UAB reception at the Colorado Convention Center where a campaign was unveiled to establish the Sara S. Grostick endowed award. Sara retired in May 2007 after 28 years as director of the HIM Program and 30-plus years at UAB, beginning in 1974 as the director of the medical record technician program. if you have not had a chance to give your gift, contact Katie Davidson at katiedav@uab.edu or 205-996-5469.