UCEM Leadership Transition

UAB Office of Research

UAB School of Medicine

Dr. Marcas Bamman has announced his intention to step down as Director of the UAB Center for Exercise Medicine effective July 31, 2020.  Marcas established the UCEM in 2011 and has had a major role in the recognition and growth of exercise medicine nationally. The UCEM was awarded a T32 in 2012, and Marcas founded the National Exercise Clinical Trials Network (NExTNet) with UAB as the hub/Coordinating Center that same year. NExTNet subsequently grew to include 77 member institutions from coast to coast. The UCEM continued to attract significant funding including the NIH National Rehabilitation Research Resource to Enhance Clinical Trials, the Coordinating Center for the NIH Medical Rehabilitation Research Resource Network, and was awarded 1 of 6 adult Clinical Centers for MoTrPAC. The UCEM was renewed as a full University Wide Interdisciplinary Research Center in 2019.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Tom Buford will assume the role of Director of UCEM. Since his arrival at UAB in 2017, Dr. Buford has worked closely with Dr. Bamman as an Associate Director of UCEM. He is also Co-Director of the UAB Nathan Shock Center on the Basic Biology of Aging. Dr. Buford is an accomplished scholar, having published over 120 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He currently holds two R01 awards from the National Institute on Aging, incorporating both human and animal models of exercise. He has served on multiple NIH peer review panels and has also been an investigator on two of the largest exercise clinical trials ever conducted - the LIFE Study and the ongoing MoTrPAC initiative. Tom will assume the role of UCEM Director on August 1, 2020.