Irfan M. Asif, M.D., has been named chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the UAB School of Medicine. Asif is a primary care physician with a specialization in sports and exercise medicine. He has developed a local, national and international reputation for teaching and scholarship.
Asif comes to UAB from the Greenville Health System and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, where he served most recently as the vice chair of academics and research in the Department of Family Medicine and as the sports medicine fellowship director.
Asif earned his M.D. in 2007 at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed his family medicine residency at the University of Washington (UW) with a concentration in sports medicine. Asif then stayed at UW for another year to complete his fellowship in sports medicine.
From there, he has served in several academic leadership positions: sports medicine fellowship director at the University of Tennessee, sports medicine fellowship director at USC School of Medicine Greenville, interim director of the family medicine residency program in Greenville, and also as the interim chair for the Department of Family Medicine in Greenville. He currently serves on the board of directors for the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and is an Associate Editor for the journals Sports Health and the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Asif’s research explores several domains of sports cardiology, and also the prevention and treatment of disease through lifestyle and exercise medicine.
“The chance to join the UAB community is extremely exciting,” said Asif. “UAB has an outstanding reputation as an academic medical center and has unparalleled resources for development, growth and collaboration that are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of the patients in the greater Birmingham community and the state of Alabama. It is an honor to be chosen for this position.”
The Department of Family and Community Medicine was established in 1975 and is recognized as a leader in the fields of clinical care, premedical education, practice-based research and student health services.
“In my new role, I hope to facilitate tremendous growth,” said Asif. “This includes providing excellence in patient care, education and research. Specifically, our department will seek new ways to prevent and treat diseases for the patients we serve, aim to develop new educational experiences for learners including a UAB residency in Family Medicine, and grow opportunities for nationally recognized primary care research in population health using the principles of lifestyle and exercise medicine.”
Asif will officially join UAB on September 15. “We’re anticipating outstanding progress in the department after Dr. Asif joins us,” said Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., FACS, senior vice president for medicine and dean of the School of Medicine. “He has an excellent vision for the future, and I believe we can provide him with the tools he needs to take our patient care, research and leadership in the field to the next level of success.”