Published in UAB Insight, Winter 2008
Sanford Is Emergency Medicine Chair
Senior Vice President and Dean of the School of Medicine Robert R. Rich, MD, has named Janyce M. Sanford, MD, chair of the UAB Department of Emergency Medicine. Sanford had served as interim chair since September 2006.
Sanford joined UAB in 1998 and was named vice chair for the department in 2005. She has served as quality improvement director for the department since 2000 and as medical director since 2003. She previously practiced as an emergency physician at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, Baptist Medical Center Montclair and Medical Center East in Birmingham, and Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee.
A graduate of the University of Alabama, Sanford earned her medical degree at the University of South Alabama, interned at Carraway Methodist Medical Center, and completed residencies at University Hospital in Jacksonville and at UAB Hospital. She was certified in 1991 by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
Mestecky Wins Top Czech Science Honor
Jiri Mestecky, MD, PhD, a UAB professor of microbiology and medicine, has been awarded the 2007 Czech Mind prize. The annual award is the highest scientific honor in the Czech Republic, and recipients often include Czech nationals working in other countries. Mestecky came to UAB in 1967 and continues to research and teach about the microbial environment of the gut, mouth, and mucosal membranes. His expertise in mucosal immunology has earned him world acclaim. In recent years Mestecky has become a prominent researcher in a new class of experimental HIV vaccines.