News & Events - Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology

UAB patient shares difficult experience to warn others of the dangers of scleroderma

One UAB patient uses her transformational story to spread awareness of scleroderma.

With eight highly ranked specialties, U.S. News again calls UAB best hospital in Alabama

U.S. News & World report named UAB Hospital as the best hospital in Alabama.

UAB rheumatology care expands to Hoover clinic

UAB rheumatologists will begin seeing patients at the UAB Hoover Primary Care clinic in July 2022.

Infrared cameras added to telemedicine visits for arthritis patients

As part of a study funded by Pfizer, Inc., UAB will partner with Whitfield Hospital in Demopolis and John Paul Jones Hospital in Camden to evaluate how thermography cameras can improve telemedicine visits for arthritis patients in rural Alabama.

22 faculty receive grants to fund developmental projects

The UAB Faculty Development Grant Program supports junior faculty with funding to pursue research, creative works and scholarly activity.

Heart disease in black individuals: Two elevated biomarkers distinguish Blacks with resistant hypertension from whites

Blacks face much greater rates of heart disease than do whites. A wider study is needed to further investigate this racial difference and identify potential therapeutic targets.

Curtis Aims to Use Virtual Reality to Care for Patients with RA

Dr. Jeffrey Curtis wants to use virtual reality to help patients with rheumatoid arthritis experience how the disease may worsen over time in the future to improve shared decision making about their treatment choices in the present.

Singh Sheds Light on JAK Inhibitor Debate

How can physicians help patients with rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate fails? It was hoped that a new class of oral medication held the answer, but the FDA issued a black box warning for JAK inhibitors last year citing major adverse[…]

Danila Reaches Rheumatology Patients with Telemedicine

Maria I. Danila, MD, MSc, MSPH Our understanding of how to best use telemedicine for rheumatology patients began with our need to care for patients with chronic illness during the height of the COVID pandemic.

UAB Provides ACR with Top Leaders and Learners

The American College of Rheumatology is the premier society for the advancement of rheumatology in the U.S. This year’s ACR President, a newly designated Master, and a Distinguished Fellow all call UAB home.

How LPS prevents or promotes development of asthma and allergic disease by airborne allergens

A detailed mechanistic study unravels how the bacterial endotoxin LPS prevents or promotes allergic disease.

UAB researchers are part of a $3 million award to learn how to better treat lupus in Black patients

Lupus, an autoimmune disease that can attack any part of the body, can be confounding because patients often respond differently to the same treatment, and they vary widely in the severity of their symptoms.

$100 million in contributions to transform UAB School of Medicine

Record $95 million Heersink lead gift to advance strategic growth and biomedical innovation.

Memory killer T cells are primed in the spleen during influenza infection

This finding upends the long-held paradigm that priming during lung infections takes place only in the draining lymph nodes, and it will be key to developing more efficient vaccinations and therapies for respiratory challenges.

Advantages of intranasal vaccination against SARS-CoV-2

Intranasal vaccination is needle-free and elicits immunity at the site of infection, the respiratory tract.

UAB’s new Immunology Institute provides new avenues for discovery

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for enhanced study and discovery in the field of immunology.

More than 1,100 employees to be honored with annual service awards

This year, the university recognizes 50 years of service by Jeanne Hutchison, Ph.D., and Ferdinand Urthaler, M.D., and 45 years of service by Robert Kim M.D., and Joseph Lovetto. In addition, 294 employees with 20 or more years and 904[…]

Danila Receives Innovative Research Award for Study on Telemedicine

Associate Professor Maria Danila, MD, MSc, MSPH has received an Innovative Research Award from the Rheumatology Research Foundation. She will investigate how increased tele-rheumatology due to COVID-19 impacts the health outcomes of patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.

Grateful Donors Accelerate RA Research through Cytometry Gift

Dr. Troy Randall with cytometry equipment. The idea that cells are the unit of life began when Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek looked under a microscope. He was the first to observe that tissues were composed of tiny chambers—cells—that worked[…]

BIGDATA Aims to Improve Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis

According to a 2019 Pew Research Study, about one in five U.S. adults regularly wears a smart watch or wearable fitness tracker. This trend is producing a wealth of health data that can be leveraged to improve medial practice and scientific[…]

Division Recruits Internationally Renowned Gout Researcher

Dr. Tony MerrimanProfessor Tony Merriman, PhD, FRSNZ, joins our faculty from the University of Otago in New Zealand. Dr. Merriman is an internationally recognized scientist and leader in the genetic basis of gout and rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Merriman's research interests[…]

2020: The year in photos

Each year, UAB’s official photographers capture tens of thousands of images as they document the incredible variety of events and personalities that make up our community. Here are some of our favorite photos of some of the most dramatic months[…]

Singh receives $7.6 million in research funding for rheumatoid arthritis study

The study is funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Rheumatology Research Foundation grant allows for advancement in telehealth

A recent grant to UAB researchers from a national organization will yield insight into telehealth and potentially increase patient access to rheumatic care.

Post COVID Treatment Program at UAB to help patients with persistent COVID-19 symptoms

A new multidisciplinary program within UAB Medicine will help evaluate patients who have recovered from COVID-19 but are still experiencing symptoms and link them to the specialized care they need.

Preclinical data for COVID-19 vaccine candidate show effectiveness and advantages

The vaccine candidate Altimmune’s AdCOVID potently stimulated neutralizing antibody and T cell responses, as well as mucosal immunity in the respiratory tract.

Saag named division director of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology

A long time UAB rheumatologist has been named director of division in the UAB School of Medicine.

BMT survivor study finds significant breast cancer risk in young women who received total body irradiation

Women who had total body irradiation to prepare for blood or marrow transplantation before age 30 had a 4.5-fold increase in their risk of developing breast cancer later in life.

Bridges named president of the Rheumatology Research Foundation

Bridges will serve a two-year term as president of a specialty research foundation.

Unrecognized genetic variation in research mouse models can affect immune cells

Unsuspected genetic variation among strains of mice can surreptitiously confound data results.

Machines help scientists spot new patterns in Alzheimer’s, cancer and more

Investigators attract major grants to use AI on failed drug trials, cell-free DNA and puzzling CT scans.

New Faculty Spotlight, Amanda Schnell, MD

We are delighted to welcome Amanda Schnell, MD, to the Division. Dr. Schnell has been appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine and will see patients in the Rheumatology Clinic at The Kirklin Clinic. As a clinician-educator, Dr. Schnell brings both compassion[…]

DREAM Challenge to automate assessment of radiographic damage from rheumatoid arthritis

UAB is helping develop automated technology to assess joint damage from rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatology Faculty and Fellows Visit Capitol Hill in Support of the Safe Step Act

Maggie Guthrie, MD, Lesley Jackson, MD, Amanda Schnell, MD, Kenneth G. Saag, MD, MSc, Courtney Crayne, MD, Nitasha Khullar, MD, and S. Louis Bridges, Jr., MD, Ph.D. were part of group of more than 100 patient advocates and individuals from The[…]

Research points to possible target to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF

This study included preclinical experiments and use of bronchoalveolar cells from IPF patients.

Max Cooper receives Lasker Award for immunology

Cooper spent 40 years at UAB, where he made countless discoveries in immunology.

How IL-6 allows the immune response to develop for a key cell, the T follicular helper

These preclinical findings may have therapeutic potential for autoimmune diseases like lupus.

The establishment of resident memory B cells in the lung requires local antigen encounter

The School of Medicine communications staff sat down with Dr. Randall to gain insights about his research, UAB, and the science community.

Biomarker identified for early beta cell death in Type 1 diabetes

The biomarker can identify beta cell death in children and adults with recent-onset Type 1 diabetes and in antibody-positive at-risk subjects before disease onset.

Three generations linked from shared rheumatic disease experiences

Three generations of a family are forever linked from their shared rheumatic disease experiences and care at UAB.

Louis Justement named FASEB president-elect

FASEB is the advocacy voice for the United States’ basic biomedical research community.

$17 million grant will explore immune cells in inaccessible tissues of the human body

Tissue-resident B cells likely have important differences that affect autoimmunity and transplant rejection.

Mechanism for impaired allergic inflammation in infants may explain hygiene hypothesis

The hygiene hypothesis says increased sanitation in industrialized countries has led to increases in asthma.

Kimberly named to National Academy of Inventors

The National Academy of Inventors elects another UAB faculty member, Dr. Robert Kimberly, as a fellow.

UAB rheumatologists serve in national leadership positions

Several UAB faculty members and trainees are in leadership positions in the American College of Rheumatology.

Memory B cells in the lung may be important for more effective influenza vaccinations

Up to now, it has not been clear if these cells might be useful to combat influenza infections or even if they exist at all.

New Developments in Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis

Borrowing from principles used in rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis management, current guidelines recommend that the overarching goal in the treatment of patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis be the achievement of remission or minimal disease activity in a treat-to-target approach.[…]

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