Greetings,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the UAB Department of Neurology Website.
UAB is a large, dynamic and growing academic medical center. Our 1000 bed state-of-the-art UAB Hospital offers the finest care for patients in all disciplines, and clinical care, research and teaching are outstanding. Our new $350 million UAB Hospital North Pavilion provides a high technology facility with all new operating rooms, ICU’s, catheterization/imaging/interventional suites, and an Emergency Department covering almost a full square block. We have a new 26-bed Neurological ICU, as well as a new Neurosciences Unit containing hospital floor beds on the 8th floor that is connected via a sky bridge to our other Neurosciences Unit on the 8th floor of the West Pavilion. We have more than 2,000 Neurology admissions per year representing the full spectrum of acute and tertiary referral neurological disorders, and we have a very close working relationship with our outstanding Divisions of Neurosurgery, Neuroradiology and Neuropathology, as well as other closely allied departments such as Medicine, Psychiatry and Rehabilitation Medicine, just to name several.
Our Neurology faculty outpatient practices are contained in The Kirklin Clinic where we encounter over 24,000 neurological outpatient visits annually. The University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, the entire faculty practice plan of UAB School of Medicine, is one of the largest and most successful academic multi-specialty clinics in the nation. UAB ranks in the top 20 nationally in research finding from the NIH, and our goal is to be in the top 10. We have strong institutional and community commitments to support vigorous growth in the Neurosciences, and we will increase the size of the Neurology Faculty to over 50 during the next 3 to 5 years.
In 2003 we moved into Phase 1 of the Sparks Neurosciences Building renovation, where we have new administrative offices, a new Residency Program Office Suite and a beautiful new state-of-the-art Neurology Library and Learning Resource Center connected to the Residency Program Suite. Four other floors that were being renovated are also finished now for the consolidation of our Neurology faculty, staff and house staff offices, as well as the EMG/EEG/Neurophysiology Laboratories, clinical research units, and other laboratories. Additionally, we have 15,000 square feet of new laboratory space for disease-related neuroscience research that opened in June 2006. Phase II of the renovation was completed in November 2006.
Regarding education, we offer Neurology Residents and medical students unsurpassed opportunities for training in clinical care, research and teaching. We encourage all of our residents to get involved in some form of research (clinical or laboratory) during their 2nd and 3rd year of Neurology training so they can learn the science and methodology of research, as well as make scientific presentations at national and international meetings that should lead to publications. Our fellowship programs are rapidly expanding; we have or will have postdoctoral fellowships in all subspecialty areas that, where applicable, lead to board certification.
Perhaps as important as all of the above are the outstanding camaraderie and cooperative spirit that exist throughout the department, and each day we are truly excited about and look forward to coming to work. Furthermore, we all take pride in our department and institution, and excellence and mutual respect for one another are our standards.
If we can be of service to you, please call on us.
Best wishes,
Ray L. Watts, M.D. John N. Whitaker Professor and ChairmanDepartment of Neurology