UAB Department of Neurology

Associate Professor of Neurology and Pathology

Professional Background: M.D., University of Kentucky College of Medicine, 1976
Email: powers@path.uab.edu
Office: SC 961-D, 1720 7th Ave S, Birmingham AL 35294-0017

Personal Info:
Dr. Powers served in the military with the U.S. Army from 1973 to 1976 and also received his M.D. degree in 1976 from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Butterworth General Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1976 to 1977 followed by three years active duty from 1977 to 1980 and a three-year residency in anatomical pathology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine from 1980 to 1983. From 1983 to 1984, he completed a residency in Psychiatry at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. From 1984 to 1986 he completed a two-year fellowship in the Neuropathology Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland simultaneously as a trainee in forensic neuropathology with the State of Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore. He remained in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins as housestaff with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences until 1988 when he moved to Birmingham and became an Assistant Professor of Pathology with the Departments of Psychiatry and Pathology. Presently he is an Associate Professor with the Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Pathology and is on the Clinical Faculty at the College of Community Health Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.

Dr. Powers is board certified in:

Anatomical Pathology by the American Board of Pathology, 1983
Psychiatry and Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 1993
Added qualification in Geriatric Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 1994
Recertified in Geriatric Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 2004

In 2001, Dr. Powers was inducted into the Alabama Health Care Hall of Fame, which was founded in 1997 with the purpose to recognize those persons, living or deceased, who have made outstanding contributions to, or rendered exemplary service for healthcare in the State of Alabama. As a psychiatrist, geriatric psychiatrist, and neuropathologist, Dr. Richard Powers has had a profound impact on the lives of elderly citizens in Alabama. His leadership as Director of the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Bureau of Geriatric Psychiatry has resulted in a continuum of care within Alabama communities that include community mental health centers and Alzheimer's support groups; a mass-scale education program for Alzheimer's caregivers; and the development of a state-of-the-art geriatric psychiatry hospital -- the Mary Starke Harper facility in Tuscaloosa. This facility provides short-term treatment to individuals over 65 with dementia and serves as a teaching hub for students, families, and the community. Dr. Powers is also recognized for training a large number of young professionals to care for Alabama's older citizens and for the creation of the Brain Bank at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. His awards and honors as a physician, teacher, and scientist accumulated over the last 32 years are too numerous to list here. The Department of Neurology is excited to have him as part of the faculty.