University Medical Center is expanding neurology care and related services with the addition of one of the state’s largest private neurology groups.
Alabama Neurology and Sleep Medicine in Tuscaloosa joins UMC Dec. 12 as UMC-Neurology and Sleep Medicine and brings to UMC patients additional care for neurological diseases as well as new services for those with sleep disorders.
UMC-Neurology and Sleep Medicine will care for patients at the current Alabama Neurology and Sleep Medicine facility on Rice Mine Road Loop.
“The (University of Alabama) College of Community Health Sciences and UMC are thrilled to have this outstanding and well-respected group join our practice,” said Dr. Richard Friend, dean of CCHS, which operates UMC. “The addition of Alabama Neurology and Sleep Medicine will provide much-needed care and access for our faculty, staff, students and the community. It will also provide additional clinical experiences for the College’s medical students, resident physicians and fellows. We are also excited about an increase in the number of clinical trials that this group brings.”
Alabama Neurology and Sleep Medicine has six neurologists and sleep professionals. Its physicians have fellowship training in neuromuscular disease, sleep medicine, epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology. In addition to expanded neurology care and sleep medicine services, UMC-Neurology and Sleep Medicine will also offer electro-diagnostics and EEG – procedures and lab services used to evaluate electrical activity of muscles and their associated nerves, measure brain electrical activity in response to external stimuli, and assess nerve damage or injury through nerve conduction studies.
“We are excited to bring our specialty and subspeciality Neurology and Sleep Medicine programs into University Medical Center,” said Dr. James Geyer, a neurologist at Alabama Neurology and Sleep Medicine and director of the practice’s Sleep Program. “Our physicians, advanced providers, technologists and nursing staff bring a wealth of experience to patient care, medical education and clinical research.”
Geyer is also a clinical professor in the CCHS Department of Family, Internal, and Rural Medicine. In addition, he serves as director of the UA Research MRI, which is housed on the CCHS campus, and as medical director for the College’s Institute for Rural Health Research.
Neurology is a medical specialty that focuses on the various nervous systems in the body. Neurologists are highly trained specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the brain and spinal cord diseases, as well as peripheral nerve and muscle diseases.
Sleep medicine provides care and treatment for sleep disorders, which can include sleep related breathing disorders (sleep apnea), difficulty sleeping at night, problems with excessive daytime sleepiness, or medical problems that might occur or be exacerbated during sleep. Sleep disorders are associated with heart disease, stroke, cognitive disorders, depression, obesity and lower life expectancy. More than 70 million people in the United States suffer from sleep disorders.
Alabama Neurology and Sleep Medicine had more than 25,000 patient encounters in 2024, in both inpatient and outpatient settings, and performed more than 3,000 sleep studies. It runs a large, accredited sleep center and has one of only a few accredited Behavioral Sleep Medicine training programs in the United States.
UMC is the largest multi-specialty medical practice in West Alabama with a main location on the UA campus in Tuscaloosa and clinics in Northport, Demopolis, Fayette, Carrollton and Livingston. UMC has provided neurology care at its clinics in Tuscaloosa and Northport for a number of years; the addition of Alabama Neurology and Sleep Medicine will expand and enhance that care, Friend said.
In addition to UMC, CCHS also operates the UA Student Health Center and Pharmacy and Capstone Hospitalist Group and recorded a total of 300,000 patient visits in 2024.