Dr. Unlap received his PhD in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from Kansas State University followed by postdoctoral trainings in Oncology and Behavioral Neurobiology under Drs. Andrew Kraft and Richard Jope at the University of Alabama at Birmingham studying the roles that immediate early genes play in the pathogenesis of malignancy and neuronal degeneration, respectively. Dr. Unlap was given a faculty appointment in the Department of Medicine at UAB where he began to study the role that the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger might play in the pathogenesis of salt-sensitive hypertension.

From 1997-2007 Dr. Unlap directed the Heritage Center Biotech Curriculum for high school students and co-directed BioTek Works, a biotechnology workforce development program funded by Jefferson County and the State of Alabama. From 2007-2008 he was a faculty member at the Tulane Medical School but relocated to help start the University of Alabama at Birmingham Biotechnology Program where he currently serves as the director.

Dr. Unlap’s passion is teaching. He teaches students and faculty members using techniques that promote critical thinking skills. As the director of Teaching Foundations at the Center for Teaching and Learning, Dr. Unlap delivers a series of lectures to faculty members every week in order to assist them in improving their ability to elevate students’ learning to the highest level. As a faculty member in the Biomedical Health Sciences Program, Dr. Unlap co-directs the first course, Cells and Molecules, which is offered during the first block and works with the students using the Flipped Classroom Model, focusing on problem based application.

Watch the video below to learn more about Dr. Unlap and to see how the Flipped Classroom Model makes students better problem solvers.