UAB Briefs: COVID-19 testing, award winner, virtual symposium
In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
We also provide updates regarding UAB’s efforts to cope with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
For example, UAB Hospital and UAB Medicine clinics have implemented and visitation guidelines.
For information regarding how to plan your in-person UAB Medicine hospital or clinic visit, click here.
To read other UAB COVID-19 updates or find health information, go to uab.edu/coronavirus.
To learn more about UAB’s COVID-19 safety procedures, visit uab.edu/uabunited.
Let us know about people, events and programs on campus that deserve a mention in UAB Briefs. Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
COMMUNITY TESTING
UAB will launch a community-based testing model in Jefferson County to improve access, acceptance, uptake and appropriate follow-up to COVID-19 testing in traditionally underserved populations, according to UAB News.
The Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC) has received funding from the National Institutes of Health RADx-UP program to carry out the three-pronged program.
The program involves these elements:
- Robust pre-testing community engagement to improve the reach and acceptability of COVID-19 testing.
- Targeted mobile testing in underserved neighborhoods to increase access to and uptake of COVID-19 testing.
- Culturally appropriate post-testing navigation and assistance and follow-up services to ensure better impact and health outcomes.
The RADx Underserved Populations program is part of the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative.
The UAB effort builds on a successful pilot project conducted by the MHRC and Live HealthSmart Alabama that provided testing to African-American and Hispanic residents in Jefferson County.
HONOR FOR PERRY
The National Council of Teachers of English has named UAB professor Tonya Perry as the 2020 recipient of the prestigious Advancement of People of Color Leadership award, according to UAB News.
Perry was honored by the NCTE for her work to promote equity and dismantle racism.
The executive director of GEAR UP Alabama and Red Mountain Writing Project, Perry received the award in a virtual ceremony on Oct. 21.
The APCL is bestowed only when the selection committee decides a nomination warrants presentation of the award. Perry is the 13th professional to receive it.
“Being a leader is about creating just and equitable opportunities for others and forging pathways with the goal to lead to better outcomes,” she told UAB News.
ONLINE SYMPOSIUM
The UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering will co-host the 2020 Progenitor Cell Translation Consortium Cardiovascular Bioengineering Symposium via Zoom on Monday, Dec. 5, according to UAB News.
The virtual symposium will focus on cardiac gene and cell therapy topics, including gene editing, vascular tissue engineering, induced pluripotent stem cells and cardiac stem cells in heart failure.
It will also feature Dr. Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine and professor of medicine at Duke University, as keynote speaker.
The conference is co-organized by Jay Zhang, chair of the UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Wolfram Zimmerman of the University Medical Center Göttingen.
For information about the event, call 205-934-8420.