April 6, 2021
Dr. Louanne Friend was named assistant residency director for Research and Quality Improvement for The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency, which is operated by UA’s College of Community Health Sciences. She is associate professor in the College’s Department of Community Medicine and Population Health and one of eight UA faculty selected to serve as a fellow for UA’s Alabama Life Research Institute. Friend developed the research curriculum for residents and ensures that medical students and resident physicians meet their research and scholarship requirements. Friend earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Clemson University and a Master of Science in Nursing degree from Louisiana State University Medical Center. She earned a PhD in Nursing, with an emphasis on nursing leadership, from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She has extensive critical care clinical nursing experience as well as expertise teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Friend’s funded research focuses on the screening, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension.
Dr. Anne Halli-Tierney was named assistant residency director for Clear Pathways of Excellence for The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency, which is operated by UA’s College of Community Health Sciences. She is assistant professor in the College’s Department of Family, Internal and Rural Medicine and directs the College’s Geriatrics Fellowship. She also cares for patient in the Family Medicine and Geriatrics clinics at University Medical Center, which CCHS operates. Halli-Tierney earned her medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine. She completed a residency in general internal medicine, a Geriatrics Fellowship and a Clinician Educator Geriatrics Fellowship at the Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Halli-Tierney has served as core faculty for the Alabama Research Institute on Aging, and she is a Clinical Skills Scholar in the UA School of Medicine’s Introduction to Clinical Medicine Course. Her research interests are in interprofessional education methods, end-of-life care and access to care for rural older adults.
Kirsten Henry, MBA, administrative director of the Department of Family, Internal, and Rural Medicine at The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences, was awarded a professional development grant to attend the 9th Annual Faculty Women of Color in the Academy national conference at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg. Grants were awarded to UA professional staff women of color by the University’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in partnership with the Office for Academic Affairs and the Division of Finance and Operations. Only 25 grant awards were made across campus. The national conference features prominent women of color scholars as keynote speakers, panelists, performers and workshop facilitators. Conference sessions will explore topics of leadership, career advancement, personal wellbeing and scholar activism. The virtual conference is April 10-11 with a half-day virtual Academic Writing Retreat April 9. The Faculty Women of Color in the Academy conference offers women of color faculty, university administrators, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students a unique educational and professional opportunity to network, engage and learn with peers from around the country.
