At the outset of the opioid epidemic, overdose deaths resulted mainly from prescription opioids, including natural and semi-synthetic opioids. Soon, heroin was the top culprit. Now, fentanyl is the leading cause of opioid overdose deaths, according to speakers at the 22nd Annual Rural Health Conference, held April 12-13 at The University of Alabama and hosted…

On Jan. 11, 1964, the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service, Dr. Luther Terry, an Alabamian, released the federal government’s first report implicating cigarette smoking as a major cause of lung cancer and other diseases. Dr. Alan Blum was then a high school junior in Woodmere, NY, and at the urging of…

Lewis Stewart Lewis Stewart, Jr., has joined the College of Community Health Sciences Board of Visitors. The College’s Alice McLean Stewart Endowed Lecture for Addiction Education is named in honor of his mother. The CCHS Board of Visitors is a volunteer board made up of alumni, donors, community physicians, businesspeople and other friends and supporters…

College surpasses fundraising goal for student health support fund The College of Community Health Sciences exceeded the fundraising goal set for its Bama Blitz passion project, raising $19,256.45 to assist uninsured or underinsured University of Alabama students with their health care costs. The College had set a goal of raising $10,000 for the Student Health…

Betty Shirley believed that mental health issues would become more prevalent over time, and she recognized early on the positive impact that educating primary care physicians in the provision of mental health care could have on people struggling with these challenges. “I believe that diseases of behavior will dominate the 21st Century, whether these be…

High school immersion: Rural Alabama high school students interested in health care careers can get a head start through the Rural Health Scholars and Minority Rural Health Scholars programs, offered every summer by the College of Community Health Sciences.

Dr. Brett Bentley, clinical assistant professor of sports medicine in the CCHS Department of Family, Internal, and Rural Medicine, was promoted to clinical associate professor. In addition to his academic position, he also provides patient care at University Medical Center in the Dr. Bill deShazo Sports Medicine Center. Bentley completed his undergraduate degree and medical…

Sixteen new medical school graduates will begin their graduate education in July 2023 at the College of Community Health Sciences. They will receive specialty training in family medicine as part of the UA Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency Program Class of 2026. The three-year residency is operated by CCHS and is one of the oldest and…

University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine students who completed their clinical education at the College of Community Health Sciences were selected for residencies across the United States Clinical education consists of the third and fourth years of medical school. The medical students learned of their residency placements during a commemorative…

The opioid crisis is a serious public health issue in the United States as overdoses kill nearly 47,000 people a year, and few strategies have been developed to address the epidemic The 2023 Annual Rural Health Conference, to be held April 12-13 at the Bryant Conference Center in Tuscaloosa, will focus on the opioid crisis…