On December 2, 2020, Dina V. Avery, DHSc, MA, MAEd, was elected chairperson of the Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition. The ACCCC is a statewide network of physicians, organizations, medical groups, cancer patients, cancer survivors and more. They are dedicated to reducing the incidence, morbidity and mortality of cancer in Alabama.

UAB School of Health Professions’ Professor Sue Feldman, Ph.D. and Assistant Professor Mohanoj Thirumalai, Ph.D., along with the Department of Pathology’s Sixto M. Leal Jr., M.D., Ph.D., were awarded the Faculty Innovator of the Year honor during the fifth-annual UAB Innovation Awards.

New research on the impact of COVID-19 suggests that, in the complete absence of stay-at-home orders, the United States could have seen 220 percent higher rates of infection and a 22 percent higher fatality rate than if stay-at-home orders had been implemented nationwide. The study, which included researchers Sangeetha Padalabalanarayanan and Vidya Sagar Hanumanthu as co-first authors, was published today in JAMA Network Open.

The review of COVID-19 positive case rates and state-wide stay-at-home orders suggests that stay-at-home orders helped reduce transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.New research on the impact of COVID-19 suggests that, in the complete absence of stay-at-home orders, the United States could have seen 220 percent higher rates of infection and a 22 percent higher fatality rate than if stay-at-home orders had been implemented nationwide.

The study, from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and published today in JAMA Network Open, analyzed daily state-level positive case rates against the presence or absence of statewide stay-at-home orders, or SAHOs. The team looked at the time period of March 1 to May 4, 2020, as SAHOs began to be implemented.

“During March and April, most states in the United States imposed shutdowns and enacted SAHOs in an effort to control the disease,” said senior author Bisakha Sen, Ph.D., Blue Cross Blue Shield Endowed Chair in Health Economics, Department of Health Care Organization and Policy in the School of Public Health. “However, mixed messages from political authorities on the usefulness of SAHOs, popular pressure and concerns about the economic fallout led some states to lift the restrictions before public health experts considered it advisable.” 

Sen’s team used data collected from the COVID Tracking Project, which was initiated by the magazine The Atlantic in partnership with Related Sciences. The project collates data from state health agencies and makes it publicly available. The sample included 3,023 data observations.  

“Our results indicate that a scenario of no SAHOs over this time period would have resulted in 220 percent higher cumulative case rates and 22 percent higher cumulative fatality rates compared to if there had been full imposition of SAHOs,” said Sangeetha Padalabalanarayanan, Department of Health Services Administration, School of Health Professions and co-first author of the study. 

For purposes of the study, SAHOs were considered to be in effect when a state’s governor issued an order for residents of the entire state to leave home only for essential activities, and when schools and nonessential businesses were closed. Seven states never imposed SAHOs, and 12 states lifted their SAHOs before the May 4 study cut off.   

Bisakha Sen, Ph.D.A second aim of the study was to see if the proportion of African Americans in a state was associated with the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in that state.

“Previous attempts to understand the extent of COVID-19 cases within the African American population had been done at a county level,” said co-first author Vidya Sagar Hanumanthu, Department of Health Services Administration. “Our state-level analysis showed that there was an association between the African American population and COVID-19 cases statewide. This finding adds to evidence from existing studies using county-level data on racial disparities in COVID-19 infection rates and underlines the urgency of better understanding and addressing these disparities.”  

The findings underscore the importance of stay-at-home orders in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to address racial disparities in rates of infection.  

“While the high economic cost makes SAHOs unsustainable as a long-term policy, our findings could help inform federal, state and local policymakers in weighing the costs and benefits of different short-term options to combat the pandemic,” Sen said. “Our findings also emphasize the importance of understanding and addressing the drivers of racial disparities in COVID-19 outcomes as part of the overarching goal of improving health equity in the United States.”

Mohanraj Thirumalai, Ph.D., assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions’ Department of Health Services Administration, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research. The three-year grant is part of the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects funding program.

Gavin Jenkins, Ph.D., chair, UAB Department of Occupational Therapy, has been named to the 2020-21 UAB Faculty Fellows in Education Abroad program. His course will take students to Entebbe, Uganda, to work with adults and children with disabilities.

Benjamin Abney, a Physician Assistant Studies student expected to graduate December 2021, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to five SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, there were nearly 100 submissions to the question: What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Logan Paul Myrick, a Physical Therapy student expected to graduate December 2022, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to five SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, there were nearly 100 submissions to the question: What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Roxgena Jones, an M.S. in Occupational Therapy student expected to graduate December 2022, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to five SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, there were nearly 100 submissions to the question: What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Khayla Boykin, a Health Care Management student expected to graduate August 2021, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to five SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, there were nearly 100 submissions to the question: What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Carla Rigo Lima, a PhD in Rehabilitation Science student expected to graduate May 2023, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. The award is given to five SHP students during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. This year, there were nearly 100 submissions to the question: What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Mark Lainoff is not afraid. Doesn’t fear success – elected UAB MSHA Class 55 President. Willing to take risks – started a business that went under. No horror over pain – followed his college baseball dream through injury. No terror of the unknown – volunteered to serve at UAB’s COVID-19 testing site.

Miranda Zaragoza, a member of MSHA Class 56, was featured as part of the ONE MSHA Campaign. In only six months, the campaign raised more than $1 million to support scholarships and more.

Jamond Glass, a member of MSHA Class 55, was featured as part of the ONE MSHA Campaign. In only six months, the campaign raised more than $1 million to support scholarships and more.

Allyson Hall, Ph.D., director of the UAB Graduate Programs in Healthcare Quality and Safety in the School of Health Professions, was named to the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) Board of Directors on July 1, 2020.

Michelle Brown, Ph.D., program director, M.S. in Healthcare Simulation, is one of ten UAB faculty honored with the UAB Graduate Dean’s Excellence in Mentorship Award. She participated in a virtual reception September 9, 2020, where she received the award for exceptional work with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Sue Feldman, Ph.D., professor and director of Graduate Programs in Health Informatics, is leading UAB's GuideSafe™ platform along with Mohanraj Thirumalai, Ph.D., assistant professor of health informatics in the Department of Health Services Administration.

Christopher Eidson, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, is one of twelve UAB faculty selected to receive the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. The honor is given to those who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in teaching.

Tamara Traber is the first graduate of our Clinical Doctorate in Occupational Therapy program, a degree designed to prepare experienced occupational therapists for important leadership roles in health care, academia and advocacy for professional and community organizations.

The School of Health Professions (SHP) Student Awards, for the summer semester of 2020, were managed by the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) with endorsement from the Program Directors. Due to COVID-19, we were not able to recognize our exceptional students with an award ceremony. Nonetheless, it does not diminish their excellence or their accomplishments.

Eddie Groom and Bayan Karassi, first-year students in the M.S. in Health Informatics program, were awarded merit scholarships by the Alabama Chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (Alabama HIMSS).