3 honored as emeritus faculty

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Three longtime faculty were honored as emeritus professors during the June 7 meeting of the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees.

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Edward W. Hook III, M.D., was named professor emeritus of infectious diseases in the School of Medicine. Hook joined UAB in 1992 and researches the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis and sexual health as it relates to public health.

Hook’s research lab is one of five CDC-funded reference laboratories for the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project, which has monitored trends in gonococcal epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance in the United States since 1988. Hook has published more than 400 peer-reviewed academic publications and book chapters and has been the principal investigator on more than 60 studies.
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Virginia Wadley Bradley, Ph.D., was named professor emerita in the School of Medicine Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care. Bradley earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from UAB before joining its faculty ranks. Her research examines the relationship of cognitive function to everyday function in the context of normal aging, vascular disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease and the development of interventions to prevent and treat loss of function.

Bradley has served as the principal investigator or investigator on dozens of studies. In 2018, Bradley co-led the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial’s Memory and Cognition in Decreased Hypertension study, which showed that lowering one’s blood pressure to 120 mm Hg or less reduces the risk of mild cognitive impairment, which in turn reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
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Mark N. Prichard, Ph.D., was named professor emeritus of pediatrics in the School of Medicine. In addition to his work in the department, which he joined in 2003, Prichard also was director of the Molecular Diagnostic Virology Laboratory, which evaluated new drugs to treat viral infections. Prichard’s own research focused on the discovery of new drugs for DNA viruses.

Prichard was the primary investigator on contracts from the National Institutes of Health and was the co-author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications. In 2009, he received the William Prusoff Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Antiviral Research. Prichard died June 13. Read Pediatrics Distinguished Professor Richard Whitley’s memoriam online.