News

Alabama is one of three states currently offering an ovarian cancer car tag — and it is changing the future of ovarian cancer research. Since the tag’s inception, proceeds from each ovarian cancer car tag purchased have gone directly to the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Division of Gynecologic Oncology to support ovarian cancer research.

UAB was well represented at one of the signature oncology conferences this year, ASCO, held in Chicago, Illinois, from May 31–June 4.

Cancer can put a person’s health at risk, but it also poses challenges to physical, social, emotional, and mental well-being. In response, the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB has integrated the UAB Supportive Care Psycho-Oncology Program into patient care, to promote a culture of caring for the emotional impact of cancer.

Markus Bredel, M.D., Ph.D., is lead author on “Haploinsufficiency of NFKBIA reshapes the epigenome antipodal to the IDH mutation and imparts disease fate in diffuse gliomas” in Cell Reports Medicine (2023). This groundbreaking discovery not only marks a significant milestone in our understanding of diffuse gliomas but also paves the way for improved predictions of disease outcomes and the development of targeted treatment approaches.

In 2022, the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB celebrated its 50th anniversary, highlighting five decades of cancer research and care for patients in Alabama. During the State of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center address, Director Barry Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., emphasized the Cancer Center's continuous growth and the people and initiatives shaping the future of cancer research and care. To learn more, read our 2022 Year in Review.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, in partnership with the Alabama Department of Public Health and the American Cancer Society, recently launched Wipe Out Cervical Cancer ­— a statewide action plan to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem in Alabama.

Emily Lombardo answers questions about her cancer journey and experience as a patient of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement recently hosted a windshield tour of several rural underserved communities in the Alabama Black Belt as part of an 18-month program called A Family Affair, which supports rural African American breast cancer survivors and their female family members.

UAB Hospital has received a 2023 Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ from Healthgrades, which recognizes hospitals that provide an overall positive patient experience during hospital stays. UAB Hospital was one of 445 U.S. hospitals recognized and one of only three in Alabama.

Join us Wednesday, June 14, at 6 p.m. for a conversation about the individual lived experiences of people who’ve faced cervical cancer with members of the cervical cancer community and UAB Medicine physicians, followed by a Q&A session. Advanced registration is required.

Joseph Thompson was an average 22-year-old college graduate. He enjoyed hanging out with friends on the weekend, going to work, attending music concerts and watching every sport that was on his television screen. But on March 3, 2022, he received news that would change life as he knew it.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB is offering our community an opportunity to join the AMPLIFY clinical trial, a study funded by the National Cancer Institute that is designed to advance research by helping cancer survivors get healthier.

Francine Walton is a program director in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach & Engagement. In honor of Mother’s Day, we asked Walton to share how her mother has shaped her perspective on the cancer journey, including the importance of hope and resilience in the face of adversity.

“For UAB surgeons to collectively surpass 20,000 robotic surgeries completed in our hospitals reflects the level of training and care that patients have access to at UAB Hospital,” said Dawn Bulgarella CEO of the UAB Health System.

The UAB Department of Radiation Oncology has launched its new TrueBeam advanced radiotherapy system at UAB Medicine’s Kirklin Clinic at Acton Road. TrueBeam is Varian Medical Systems Inc.’s top-of-the-line radiotherapy technology, which can be used to treat tumors anywhere in the body where radiation treatment is indicated.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB is pleased to announce the 2023 class of NextGen Scholars, including two predoctoral awardees and one postdoctoral awardee. The O’Neal NextGen Scholars Awards support the training of future scientific leaders in cancer research.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB’s Cancer Rehab Plus program anticipates and responds to patient needs at every stage of the cancer journey. It’s an approach to cancer rehabilitation that recognizes the complex challenges of cancer and how needs vary from person to person.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham is joining the fight this National Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Month by providing free cancer screenings the week of April 24-28.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB is pleased to announce that Timiya S. Nolan, Ph.D., APRN-CNP, ANP-BC, has been named Associate Director for Community Outreach & Engagement effective July 1, 2023. In this role, she will be responsible for overseeing the Office of Community Outreach & Engagement, which fosters transdisciplinary cancer research along with bi-directional communication and collaboration with communities statewide.

O’Neal Cancer Service Line Strategic Initiatives Manager Dorothea Staursky recently testified in front of Congress to support federal funding for the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Dorothea Staursky urges Congress to approve a budget increase for a program that helps find matching bone marrow donors for people with leukemia and other blood disorders.

Rebecca Arend, M.D., will join Drs. Narendra Wajapeyee and Suzanne Lapi as Co-Leader of the O’Neal Experimental Therapeutics Research Program.

Rashad Hayes answers questions about his cancer journey and experience as a patient of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Becker’s Healthcare has named UAB Medicine as one of the nation’s 150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare for 2023. This annual list highlights hospitals, health systems, and medical centers that set themselves apart in the industry by investing in employees’ well-being, satisfaction, and fulfillment.