As UAB marked its 40^th anniversary this fall, the campus and community alike celebrated its growth from 15 square blocks to an 86-block complex that has a $3.6 billion economic impact on the whole state.

UAB’s first president, Dr. Joseph Volker, was well known for his quote: “We would do Birmingham a great disservice if we dreamed too little dreams.” That surely is not the case for what began in 1936 as an “extension center” of the University of Alabama. In 1945, the Medical College of Alabama was established in Birmingham, and the medical center began to take shape, attracting talented physicians and researchers from around the nation and the world.

Today UAB is the state’s single largest employer with over 18,000 employees and some 56,000 jobs statewide related to the university and health system. But the story does not stop there.

What was once known as a commuter school now has a record 2,000 men and women living on campus out of a record fall 2009 enrollment of 16,874 students.

The Princeton Review once again has listed UAB among the top 15 percent of all U.S. universities, and third nationally in “diverse student population.” In the past three years, UAB has produced six Goldwater scholars, five student Fulbright Scholars, five NSF Graduate Fellows, and three USA Today Academic Team members. 

As part of UAB's Quality Enhancement Plan that focuses on writing, quantitative literacy, and ethics and civic responsibility, undergraduates are engaged in unique, challenging programs—as well as advanced, tailored experiences in the acclaimed UAB Honors Academy—that equip them for leadership in our community and state, and for the ever-changing demands of the global job market.

UAB’s graduate programs continue to rank highly in U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools,” among them the School of Medicine’s AIDS program (6^th) and Internal Medicine (15^th); Master’s in Health Administration (7^th); Master’s in Public Health (16^th); Family Medicine Nurse Practitioner program (11^th) and Nursing Master’s (26^th).

In the arts and humanities, UAB faculty and students exhibit, lecture and perform around the nation and the world, from New York to Florence to Moscow to Tokyo. With 32 Steinways in its music department, UAB is the state’s first “All-Steinway School” and among only 100 in the world, and the university’s Mervyn Sterne Library houses the world’s 3^rd largest Marcel Proust collection. The Alys Stephens Center, home to the award-winning music and theatre departments as well as the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, continues to bring internationally-known acts to our community, remaining “Birmingham’s home for the performing arts.”

In 2009, the university was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition for civic engagement and service learning, and is among a handful of universities nationally ranked by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in both the highest tier for “research activity” and the “community engagement” classification, an indication of how effectively UAB translates research discoveries to the benefit of our community.

That robust research enterprise attracts over $400 million annually in external research funding, ranking 27^th in federal R&D dollars according the National Science Foundation (NSF) and consistently among the top 25 in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Over the years, faculty have produced many breakthroughs in science and medicine, such as the invention and development of the fiber optic endoscope; discovering the origin of HIV-1, the virus responsible for AIDS; and more recently, being first to use induced pluripotent stem cells (stem cells derived from skin cells) to cure disease in an animal model, curing sickle cell disease in mice.

UAB researchers continue to break new ground on many fronts, developing new therapies for the most devastating human diseases, such as AIDS, cancer, and Alzheimer’s; combating cybercrime perpetrated from computers around the globe, working with the FBI, CIA and Interpol; and using satellite imaging to both unearth ancient settlements in the Nile River Valley and track global public health threats.

More about the medical center
As an academic medical center, UAB excels at translating scientific discoveries into effective new treatments and cures, and providing the highest quality care to this community, state and region. UAB Hospital’s 11-story, 900-bed North Pavilion houses 37 operating suites, three surgical units, four intensive care units, an emergency department the size of a football field, and one of the world’s busiest kidney transplant centers.  It is also home to Alabama’s only level 1 adult trauma center, meaning that the most catastrophic injuries sustained anywhere in the state will be treated at UAB.

Such top-quality care is recognized at the local, state and national level. UAB ranks first among all Birmingham hospitals in  patient satisfaction on Hospital Care Assurance Program (HCAP) surveys; of all Alabama physicians listed in Best Doctors in America, over two-thirds practice at UAB;  The National Research Corporation (NRC) awarded UAB its “Consumer Choice Award” for 17 consecutive years;  and for 19 straight years, U.S. News & World Report  has ranked UAB in its “Best Hospitals” issue, in which only three percent of hospitals nationwide—and no other in Alabama—are represented.

The success of UAB’s clinical care and research is due largely to an intensely collaborative, interdisciplinary environment, an environment in which students are active participants, beginning in the freshman year. Undergraduate and graduate students alike are offered unrivaled opportunities in research and scholarship, working alongside faculty toward the next major breakthrough. 

After 40 years, UAB carries on the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that hearkens back to its origins, as it continues reaching out, breaking through and dreaming big. Click here to travel through 40 years of great moments.