UAB Briefs: Wired medicine, art classes, UAB grad in Sidewalk short

Welcome to another installment of UAB Briefs.

In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.

Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention?

Email Iron City Ink at sydney@starnespublishing.com or jchambers@starnespublishing.com.

Getting wired

UAB Medicine has been named one of Health Care’s Most Wired for 2017, according to an annual survey by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum published in its Hospitals & Health Networks journal.

This is the fourth consecutive year UAB Medicine has earned this recognition.

The survey polled 2,158 hospitals to examine how they are using IT to improve performance in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management, quality and safety, and clinical integration.

Hospitals must meet standards in all four categories to achieve the “Most Wired” designation.

Arts classes for everyone

New arts classes for children and adults, including sketch comedy, calligraphy, printmaking, beat making, theater and pre-K creativity, are available this fall at ArtPlay, according to a UAB news release.

Part of UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, ArtPlay connects the community with the arts by offering weekly classes in the spring and fall, summer camps and other family-friendly educational events.

Private instruction is also available in a variety of instruments, as well as group classes provided by local teaching artists.

Class fees begin at $110. ArtPlay is located at 1006 19th St S.

Registration for the fall is open now. For more information about the classes available, call 975-4769 or go to alysstephens.org/classes.

UAB grad, cult film star

Cult-classic movie star and UAB School of Dentistry graduate George Hardy is the star of a short film shown at Sidewalk Film Festival, according to a UAB news release.

The film, Texas Cotton, premiered at Sidewalk.

The short, about 10 minutes along, tells the story of a Texas sheriff who “finds out that there is nothing simple in the heart of the Hill Country,” according to the festival web site.

This will be the third Sidewalk appearance for Hardy, a native of Alexander City.

He is also one of the producers of the new film, according to imdb.com.

Hardy has become an icon among cult-movie enthusiasts for his turn in Troll 2 and the subsequent documentary Best Worst Movie.

Filmmaker Tyler Russell, the director of “Texas Cotton,” says he and the rest pf the cast and crew enjoyed Hardy’s professionalism.

“He’s just so positive and such a good person,” Russell said in the release.