Photo courtesy of UAB Media Relations.
Bessie M. Gaspar, a UAB political science major, will be the first person from the school to take part in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute summer program in Washington, D.C.
A UAB student will get a close look at the workings of the U.S. Congress this summer.
A neurosurgeon on campus will take the helm of a prestigious professional association.
The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center received a grant to help provide lodging for needy cancer patients.
And UAB continues to attract hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding.
Ms Gaspar goes to DC
Bessie M. Gaspar, a UAB political science major, has earned an internship with the 2021 summer program of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.
She’s the first person from UAB to receive this honor, according to UAB News.
The internship allows Latino undergraduates to gain first-hand knowledge about how federal legislation works.
Interns attend congressional hearings and policy briefings and conduct research on such issues as education, foreign affairs and defense.
A native of Albertville, Gaspar is vice president of the Spanish and Latino Student Association and lead assistant of Free Food For Thought, a multicultural program sponsored by UAB Student Affairs.
Mr President
Dr. James Markert, chair of the UAB Department of Neurosurgery, is the president-elect of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery for 2020-2021.
The leading neurosurgical organization in North America, the AAcNS is focused on promoting, sponsoring and mentoring laboratory, translational and clinical research in the neurological sciences.
“I look forward to furthering the mission of this wonderful organization” Markert said.
Room at the inn
Cancer patients often face financial and logistical challenges in traveling to and from the facilities where get treatment.
This includes some patients in Alabama who receive treatment at UAB.
“Many of these patients are too fatigued or sick to drive themselves to treatment each day and cannot afford to pay for lodging in the city where they receive treatment,” said Jordan DeMoss, vice president for clinical operations at UAB Hospital.
Fortunately, the American Cancer Society has awarded an Emergency Lodging Grant to the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, according to UAB News.
The O’Neal Center is the only facility in Alabama to receive one of the ACS grants.
It is also the only facility in the state to be designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.
“Access to care is a big problem in our country, with low-income people of color and those living in rural communities suffering the most from disparities,” DeMoss said.
Big federal dollars
Research funding at UAB from the National Institutes of Health was just over $325 million in 2020, and UAB ranked 12th among public universities for NIH funding, according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.
The largest chunk of the funding, just under $270 million, went to the School of Medicine, which ranked No. 24 among the nation’s medical schools, according to UAB News
“This is the second year in a row that UAB research funding from NIH has been over $300 million, reaffirming UAB’s place as a leading academic research institution,” said Chris Brown, vice president for research at UAB.
