UAB
A Dialogue on the Brain with the Dalai Lama
The brain is a changing organ that can heal itself after injury. That's the message from a dialogue involving the Dalai Lama and scientists at UAB's Alys Stephens Center Saturday.
“Neuroplasticity and Healing” — A Dialogue with the Dalai Lama
Birmingham is preparing for a visit this weekend from the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan leader will speak about religion and human rights. But the Buddhist figure will also indulge his personal interest of neuroscience. The Dalai Lama will participate in a talk with scientists Saturday at UAB.
EarFlims: To Sleep To Dream
You know how people often say the book is better than the movie because you can create your own pictures? The same thing is true for audio. A new show with its American debut Tuesday at UAB's Alys Stephens Center puts that notion to the test. "To Sleep to Dream" is a production of the United Kingdom-based EarFilms. It's like a feature-length movie told only with sound.
INTERVIEW: James Willig On The “Gamification” Of Medical Education
Medical education is always evolving. One way it's changed in recent years is that residents are not allowed to work the long, judgment-impairing shifts they used to. Most agree that's good. But how do you make up for all that lost teaching time? Some UAB researchers think they have an answer: video games. They created a competitive educational game called "Kaizen-Internal Medicine," or just "Kaizen-IM," and a small but promising study showed that busy young doctors learned from it in their off hours. UAB's James Willig sat down with WBHM's education reporter Dan Carsen to explain. Willig starts with a downside of limiting residents' work hours.
UAB’s Florence Nightingale Letters
As UAB nursing students take finals this week, they'll be drawing on what they've learned about the human body in class and in clinics. But students also have had a special way to connect with the history of the field. The school holds 50 letters written by the woman credited with founding modern nursing -- Florence Nightingale. WBHM intern Russ Timothy reports.
Birmingham Native Callie Courter’s New Album ‘Love is for the Brave’
Callie Courter can't remember when she wasn't writing poetry and singing around the house. The Birmingham native started writing song lyrics while majoring in music at UAB. As a graduation present, her dad financed the production of her first album, called 'Love Is For The Brave.' She now lives in Nashville, where she's chasing her dreams of being a professional musician. Courter sat down with Les Lovoy to tell WBHM about the new album, her first experience in the studio, and her songwriting process.
Interview: Michael Saag, M.D., Discusses His New Book
UAB researcher and physician Dr. Michael Saag is know around the world as an AIDS expert. He started working with AIDS in the early eighties, a time when the disease was masked in uncertainty. Since then, he's made AIDS research and improving patient treatment his life's work. This month, Dr. Saag published his memoir "Positive: One Doctor's Personal Encounters with Death, Life and the U.S. Healthcare System." Dr. Saag spoke with WBHM's News Director Rachel Osier Lindley about the book, what it's like to lose a patient and his deep concerns about the U.S. healthcare system.
Sustainability: What is Sustainability?
Monday WBHM kicks off a weeklong series on issues of sustainability. From water to recycling to public policy, we'll look at how Birmingham deals with resources and how that may change. While sustainability is a buzzword that attracts attention, what does it actually mean? For an answer, WBHM's Andrew Yeager sat down with UAB Engineering School Dean Iwan Alexander. He's part of the Sustainable Smart Cities Research Center at UAB.
Leon Botstein: Music is so important because it has no purpose
UAB has awarded the 2014 Ireland Distinguished Visiting Scholar Prize to Dr. Leon Botstein. The award brings to campus outstanding scholars who are recognized as leaders in the arts and sciences. While at UAB, Botstein conducted a special performance of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra at UAB's Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. Botstein also lectured and met with students and faculty in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences. He spoke with WBHM's Michael Krall
From UAB to White House Intern
With the end of this college semester just a month away, many students are busy applying for internships. As one UAB graduate knows well, internships can be a life changing experience. Mallick Hossain had been on a path toward medical school before his internship at the White House this summer pushed him to pursue a Ph.D in economics. WBHM intern Hollie Parrish spoke with him about his experience in Washington.
UAB Cancer Center Opens Renovated Facility
The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Comprehensive Cancer Center will open the renovated Lurleen B. Wallace Tumor Institute this Friday. The expanded facility features increased lab space, offices designed to promote collaboration and a cyclotron.
Segregation Academies: Past And Still Present
Ever since the Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional in its 1954 Brown vs. Board of Ed decision, the racial makeup of our schools has been in flux. Forced integration made the South’s public schools some of the most integrated in the country, but now – here and across the nation – our schools are re-segregating. The Southern Education Desk is taking a deep look at the issue with a multi-part series exploring this complex trend. In the second installment, WBHM's Dan Carsen examines a strategy resistant whites once used to sidestep public school integration, one that still shapes communities today: private so-called segregation academies.
Interview: Dr. Robert Corley
In Birmingham's historic Kelly Ingram Park, there's a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One of the names on the stone pedestal is Robert Corley. Among other things, Dr. Corley teaches history at UAB. He was a founding member of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute board and has served on the city school board. Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen recently sat down with him while researching stories for our special Civil Rights anniversary coverage. Corley says today's students are missing some of that vital history.
New UAB President Ray Watts
The University of Alabama at Birmingham has a new president. The University of Alabama Systems Board of Trustees unanimously appointed Ray Watts as UAB’s seventh president Friday morning. WBHM's Andrew Yeager spoke with Watts shortly after Friday's meeting .
Are Resumes Worthless?
If your New Year's Resolutions include getting a job or finding a better one, Dale Callahan says throw out everything you know about job searching. He’s a UAB professor and author of the book Resumes are Worthless: How to Find the Work You Love and Succeed.
Cooper Green and UAB Reach Agreement on Inpatient Care
UAB Health Systems has agreed to help Cooper Green Mercy Hospital now that the county-owned facility is ending inpatient care. Jefferson County manager Tony Petelos announced at a press conference Thursday the county came to an agreement with UAB. That hospital will expand to take patients who need inpatient care.
New Panels for Storm Shelters
Alabama has escaped the brunt of Hurricane Isaac, but the storm does serve as a reminder that severe weather can bring danger and even death. So researchers at UAB are developing new building materials intended to create safer storm shelters. Recently a high-tech panel they created passed the National Storm Shelter Association’s tornado threat test, a key step to making such panels commercially viable. WBHM intern Will Dahlberg spoke with the project’s leader, Dr. Uday Vaidya, who says the material in these panels in rather unique.
August 17 Morning Newscast
Carol Garrison steps down as president of UAB; the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights holds a public hearing about crackdowns on illegal immigration in Alabama and other states.
Stimulants on Campus
Thousands of college students are heading back to school across Alabama. But for some, keeping up with the workload means more than just drinking a few cups of coffee. As UAB student and WBHM intern Aditi Jani discovered first hand, some students are abusing prescription stimulants to cope with the pressure to achieve.
INTERVIEW: Dr. Michael Crowe
Education affects how the brain ages, and when older people take cognitive tests, the results are compared to those of others with the same amount of schooling. But new UAB research shows that because of racial and economic disparities in education quality, that approach could be leading to disadvantaged people being diagnosed as impaired when they really aren't. Our Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen sat down with Dr. Michael Crowe, who says the disparities in our schools are obvious.
Carsen, Ott on All Things Alabama Education
Clearly, just because school is out doesn't mean the education beat is slowing down. The question on many people's minds is, what's going on with Birmingham City Schools and the state? WBHM's Tanya Ott interviews Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen on that, tuition increases, "digital districts," and a grant meant to make cancer treatment more cost effective.
Carsen & Ott: Weekly Interviews on Education in Alabama
Carsen & Ott Talk Explosions and Explosive Issues Several Alabama school communities are reeling after incidents last week shook things up. E.P.I.C. Elementary School in Birmingham had to be evacuated Friday after a propane tank exploded. No one was hurt, but down in Mobile County, a teacher was taken to the hospital after an incident with a student. Nice, tame topics like charter-school propaganda, same-sex prom dates, and Louis Farrakhan round out this week's interview, which ends on a positive note.
Remembering UAB Legend Gene Bartow
The man referred to as the father of UAB athletics has died. Gene Bartow passed away Tuesday after a two-year battle with stomach cancer. He was 81. The hall of fame coach lead teams at six universities, but it was at UAB where he really made his mark as the first mens basketball coach and first athletic director. WBHM’s Andrew Yeager has this remembrance.
Gay/Straight in Alabama: Domestic Partner Benefits
It's been a whirlwind spring for advocates of same sex marriage. Four states -- Iowa, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire -- recognized such marriages. That flurry of activity is drawing attention to the concerns of gays and lesbians. But that conversation seems largely absent in Alabama. WBHM kicks off a weeklong look at some of those issues in a series called "Gay/Straight in Alabama." We begin with the workplace. Diversity statements or equal opportunity policies are not unusual, but for some gays and lesbians those words are not enough. WBHM's Andrew Yeager has this look at domestic partner benefits in Alabama.
Stopping Spam
Believe it or not, those unsolicited e-mail messages called spam turn 30 this year. That first e-mail sent over a government computer network opened a floodgate, with spam now accounting for 85% of all e-mail traffic by some estimates. It's annoying, sure; but there are real costs. Which is why researchers at UAB are developing a new tool...a tool they say will help stop spam at the source. WBHM's Andrew Yeager reports.
ShotSpotter
For many Birmingham residents, gunfire is a familiar sound especially around holidays... with bullets falling towards rooftops and city streets. In order to combat random gunfire, Birmingham Police recently spent one million dollars of federal grant money to install ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system. WBHM's Colin Quarello takes a closer look at the system and ShotSpotter's effectiveness.
Parliament House checks out
The Parliament House hotel is history. Literally. It was built with fanfare in the 1960s, financed partly by actress Doris Day, patronized by President Richard Nixon, Governor George Wallace and Coach Bear Bryant. But it was a place that never seemed to take off for everyone else. Different owners tried different things. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis remembers the hotel, his family's part in it and an early morning wake-up call to watch it come to an end.
Kenyan Student Reaction
Talks in Kenya were temporarily suspended Thursday following the murder of Kenyan lawmaker David Too. It's just the latest act of violence in more than a month of civil unrest in that country. Demonstrations and fighting broke out following December's disputed election between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. For many Americans, the news is unfortunate, but not much more than a blip in a global landscape dotted with conflict. However, for Kenyans living in Birmingham the violence is very real. WBHM's Andrew Yeager spoke with several UAB students from Kenya. He found them deeply troubled but remaining hopeful.
New Lab Opening
In just a few months UAB will unveil a state-of-the art satellite imaging lab. Public health researchers will use it to better understand the way environment affects the spread of disease. And, as WBHM's Rosemary Pennington reports, the lab's created an unlikely partnership.
Taking Mental Health to the Streets
For thousands of people with serious mental illnesses, daily living is an excruciating experience. They have no support system to remind them to take their meds, or make and keep appointments. No one is there to help them shop for essentials, or provide them with a safe place to live and enough food to eat. Consequently, they often live on the street and drift in and out of the city's hospitals and jails. But, as Les Lovoy reports, there's a team of psychiatric professionals here in Birmingham, who are determined to give these troubled individuals a fighting chance.
Organ Donation
Today, thanks to medical advances, most kidney transplants are successful. But people continue to die every day because of organ shortages. A recent survey indicates that as many as 40% of potential kidney donors decide not to donate because of financial concerns. But one UAB doctor is proposing a system that he says could help solve the shortage problem.
Elder Exploitation
Each year in the U.S., an estimated 5 million older adults become victims of financial abuse. In 2004, older consumers reported 152 million dollars in fraud-related losses. But most of these crimes - particularly those committed by family members - go unreported. Brigid Galloway reports on how UAB doctors and the Department of Senior Services are finding unique ways to address the complex issue of financial exploitation.
