The UAB Department of Pathology recently welcomed a new faculty member to the Division of Anatomic Pathology, directed by Cristina Magi-Galluzzi, M.D., Ph.D. Joshua Baalwa, M.D., Ph.D., joins the Department as an Assistant Professor in our Community Pathology Practice Program, coming to UAB from the Lyndon Baines Johnson General Hospital in Houston, Texas, where he served as medical director of the Clinical Pathology Laboratory.

This is not Dr. Baalwa’s first experience as a Blazer: He spent six years completing a Ph.D. in the UAB Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, earning it in 2012. In 2013 he completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Department of Medicine before moving to complete a residency with the Department of Pathology & Immunology at Baylor College of Medicine. Baalwa continued his time at Baylor from 2017 to 2018 by securing a Surgical Pathology Fellowship.

Following the completion of his fellowship at Baylor, Dr. Baalwa accepted a fellowship in hematopathology with the Department of Pathology & Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Dr. Baalwa has recently received multiple awards in his field for both teaching and in clinical pathology administration and leadership. In 2021, he received the UTHealth McGovern Medical School Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award, and in 2022 he received a Top Doctors peer recognition award for excellence in clinical pathology for the Houston area. Prior to coming to UAB, he also served on the medical school admissions committee for the UTHealth McGovern Medical School.

In addition to his medical work, Dr. Baalwa has participated in community projects for his home country of Uganda, where he worked as senior house officer, Department of Internal Medicine, at the Mulago National Referral Hospital from 2001 to 2004, and as registrar until 2006. From delivering medication donations to the construction of sanitary facilities, Baalwa has demonstrated his dedication to giving back to his country through the volunteer work he has done in the community there. He was also a regular volunteer with the Houston FoodBank.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Joshua Baalwa back to the UAB Department of Pathology, as a member of our faculty.