
Dr. Lisa Schwiebert

Dr. Brett Noerager
Dr. Brett Noerager serves as the Co-Director for Institutional Liaison at the University of Montevallo. Dr. Noerager received his B.S. in animal physiology and neuroscience from UCLA in 1993 and his Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the UAB in 2002. His dissertation was directed at developing a novel treatment for the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis. Dr. Noerager teaches anatomy, physiology introductory biology and principles of biology. He maintains a collaborative research program with the UAB Dept of Medicine investigating mechanisms of lung disease.

Dr. Kenneth LaiHing

Dr. Farah Lubin

Dr. Scott Snyder

Dr. Tracey Wilson

Dr. Stefanie Varghese
Dr. Stefanie Varghese has served as the Co-Director for Teaching Instruction since 2022. Dr. Varghese received her PhD in Vision Sciences from UAB in 2013; she also earned her MBA from UAB in 2021 while serving as Program Manager of the UAB Vision Sciences Graduate Program. In 2022, she joined the Office of Professional Studies and Experiential Learning in the UAB Graduate School as the Director of the UAB CIRTL Program; she also directs the Research Communication Certificate program. As director of this higher education teaching certificate program, she has implemented a curriculum redesign to highlight the process of learning and how that relates to common teaching methods that are rooted in pedagogy, and how to assess that learning is occurring to ultimately provide scholars the training and teaching experience needed to be an effective academician.
Internal Advisory Board
Members of the MERIT Program Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) are full-time faculty and/or administrators at UAB; they were invited to serve based upon their direct experiences in facilitating departmental and/or institutionaltraining programs that include underrepresentedgroups. Because of their leadership positions within the MERIT Program, the Program Director, the Co-Directors for Research and Teaching Instruction, the Co-Directors for Institutional Liaison with the Partner Institutions, and the Program Evaluator are de facto members of the IAC.
Dr. Steven Austad Professor and former Chair of Biology (returning)
Dr. Paulette Dilworth Vice President for Diversity Equity and Inclusion (returning)
Dr. Richard Dluhy Professorand Chair of Chemistry (returning)
Dr. Mona Fouad Professor of Medicine; Co-Director of Benjamin-Carver Scientists Program
Dr. Marla Hertz Associate Professor of Libraries; MERIT Alumnae (’14) (new)
Dr. David Schneider Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics; Director, UAB PREP
Dr. Michael Wyss Professor of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Bio; Director, UAB BCC
External Advisory Board
Members of the External Advisory Committee (EAC) are faculty and/or administrators at other R1 institutions comparable to UAB. They were invited to serve based on their experiences directing, reviewing and/or participating in NIH IRACDA Programs.
Dr. Tabitha Hardy Asst Vice Chancellor for GradEd at IUPUI; IRACDA-MERIT Alumnae(’13)
Dr. Andrea Morris Asst Dean at The Rockefeller Univ; IRACDA-FIRST (Emory) Alumnae (’03)
Dr. James Skeath Professor of Genetics at Washington University (St. Louis, MO)