Budhwani and Mancini among Top 40 Under 40

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budwani manciniMelissa Mancini, left, and Henna Budhwani

Henna Budhwani, Ph.D., assistant professor in the School of Public Health, and Melissa Mancini, director of Strategy and Business Development for UAB Medicine, are among the Birmingham Business Journal's Top 40 Under 40 for 2016.

Each year, the BBJ recognizes talented professionals ages 40 and younger who contribute to economic development, community advancement and the success of the institution for which they work.

Budhwani, assistant professor in the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy and deputy director of the Sparkman Center for Global Health, works to improve health outcomes in vulnerable populations through research and public health practice.

Budhwani’s research agenda focuses on health disparities with an emphasis on vulnerable populations — specifically immigrants and minorities in the United States and women and youth abroad. She has projects in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic to combat HIV in adolescents and youth. During the past decade, she has worked or volunteered in Syria, Nepal, UAE, India, Tanzania and Kenya and supported research studies and implementation projects in Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Budhwani has been a panelist on the topics ranging from persistent discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities in Birmingham to the experience of American-born ethnic minorities at a White House-sponsored summit. She also has volunteered, supported and advocated for numerous civic and cultural groups.

Mancini has been involved with a number of UAB Health System initiatives, including the launch of UAB eMedicine in 2014, and she played an integral role in facilitating UAB Medicine’s strategic planning and identifying and developing key clinical service lines.

Mancini has also been an instrumental part of UAB Medicine’s innovation landscape, helping to lead the development of the UAB Medicine Innovation Board, an internal venture capital platform for employee ideas that has supported more than 50 projects since its inception.

Mancini, who earned her Master of Science in Health Administration degree from UAB, is a course instructor for the UAB School of Health Professions and an interviewer/alumni member of the admissions board for the MSHA program and a mentor. She was selected MSHA Alumnus of the Year in 2013.

Her passion for Birmingham is evidence by her service to the American Heart Association, Phi Mu Foundation and executive committee for the Feast of St Mark Italian Festival and Greater Birmingham Humane Society, among others