New director of UAB Center for AIDS Research to take it to ‘next level’
A prominent AIDS research facility at UAB is getting new leadership, a young scholar in the School of Education has received a prestigious award in her field and the university’s online programs were recognized in recent U.S. News rankings.
The next level
The Center for AIDS Research, part of the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, will soon welcome a new director.
Renee Heffron, an associate professor of global health and epidemiology at The University of Washington, will assume the position July 1, according to UAB News.
She replaces Dr. Michael Saag, who retired from UAB in 2021 but continues to see patients both at UAB Hospital and the 1917 Clinic, an AIDS treatment and research center on campus.
“I’m really looking forward to opportunities to partner on HIV research in Alabama and the region and to participate in the momentum of global health work that has been growing,” Heffron said.
She will develop “a vision” to take the center “to the next level of excellence,” said Dr. Selwyn M. Vickers, dean of the School of Medicine.
Heffron’s research focuses on the use of daily oral and other novel pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) agents for HIV prevention.
A promising career
Robin Ennis, an associate professor and special education program coordinator at the UAB School of Education, recently received the 2022 Martin J. Kauffman Distinguished Early Career Research Award from the Division for Research from the Council for Exceptional Children.
A prestigious international special education award, the Kauffman Award is given to researchers who are in the first 10 years of their academic careers.
“It’s truly an honor to be recognized by such a tremendous organization as CEC-DR, a professional organization made up of giants in the field of special education research,” Ennis told UAB News.
High rankings
The online bachelor’s program and several online graduate programs at UAB fared well recently in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Online Programs rankings.
The undergraduate online bachelor degrees ranked No. 29 in America, the best rankings of any Alabama university.
Among other highlights, the master’s degree in Management Information Systems at Collat School of Business claimed UAB’s first ever top-10 rank for an online program at No. 9.
The online Master of Accounting moved up 12 spots from 2021 to land at No. 12 nationally.