Rodney O. Tucker, M.D., will direct the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Palliative and Supportive Care and the Palliative and Supportive Care section in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care. He has been interim director for both programs since January 2012.
“During this time, Dr. Tucker has recruited the faculty and staff needed to improve clinical programs for patients with serious or life-threatening illness,” said division Director Richard M. Allman, M.D. “He has facilitated strategic planning and program enhancements that expand interdisciplinary research through the center. He has ensured that palliative care education programs for students, residents, post-doctoral fellows, health professionals and community providers have been at the highest standard of excellence possible.”
Tucker obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees from UAB and did residency training at Carraway Methodist Medical Center. He joined UAB in 2002 as the founding medical director of the UAB Inpatient Palliative Care Programs. In 2009, he obtained a master’s degree in medical management from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He has been the associate quality officer for the patient experience for the UAB Health System since 2011.
Tucker received the Department of Medicine Teaching Excellence Award and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award through the School of Medicine in 2011. He chairs the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Award Committee and has served as the co-chair of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Annual Assembly.
His research interests include palliative medicine in non-oncology populations, systems of health-care delivery and integrative medicine and palliative care. Tucker is board certified in internal medicine, hospice and palliative medicine.