New psychiatry residency announced for UA’s College of Community Health Sciences

The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences is launching a new residency program to help address the critical need for psychiatrists in the state. The newly accredited University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Psychiatry Residency Program is a four-year education and training program for medical school graduates that will prepare board-eligible residents in the field…


New pharmacy director for the Student Health Center 

Dr. Amanda Parsons joined the UA Student Health Center and Pharmacy as its new director of pharmacy. She replaces Lori Rice, a valued member of the SHCP staff for 25 years, who is retiring. Parsons will manage the daily operations of the SHCP’s on-site pharmacy, where students can have their prescriptions filled. Previously, she managed…


Panting’s journey to addiction medicine 

Inspired by his great-grandfather’s work as an apothecary during a yellow fever epidemic in Honduras, Central America, Dr. David Panting’s initial interest in medicine later carved a path toward addiction medicine, which is the treatment of substance use disorders.   Panting, a psychiatrist who recently joined University Medical Center’s Betty Shirley Clinic, is UMC’s first addictionologist.…


Medical students develop new course on firearm injury prevention  

Four medical students completing their clinical education at the College of Community Health Sciences earned the MedInnovate: Primary Care Award for developing a semester-long course on firearm injury and mortality prevention.   The award is given by the University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. CCHS is also…


CCHS educators receive Heersink School of Medicine awards 

Several medical educators at the College of Community Health Sciences are recipients of the UAB Heersink School of Medicine 2024 Argus Awards. Nominated and voted on by medical students, the Argus Awards recognize outstanding faculty, residents, community preceptors and departments in various categories.   In its role as a regional campus of the Heersink School of…


Publications

Dr. Dale Dickinson, associate professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Population Health with CCHS, co-authored two articles: “Environmental Health: Overview” and “Environmental Carcinogens,” published in the International Encyclopedia of Public Health. Click here to view the first article and here for the second article. 


New Faculty

Dr. Thomas Fister joined the College of Community Health Sciences as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine. He also cares for patients as a psychiatrist in the Betty Shirley Clinic at University Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, which the College operates. In addition, Fister teaches resident physicians at The University of…


Accolades

Dr. Thaddeus Ulzen, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine with CCHS, was interviewed by the British Journal of Psychiatry International about his psychiatry curriculum at the University of Cape Coast Medical School in Ghana, West Africa. Ulzen, a practicing psychiatrist at University Medical Center, which the College operates, also educates and trains…


Upcoming Events 

The CCHS sponsored 12th Annual Tuscaloosa Africana Film Festival will be held Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, from 2pm to 7:30pm at The University of Alabama Student Theater in Tuscaloosa. For more information, contact Bill Foster at (334) 322-0824 or Dr. Thad Ulzen at (205) 561-7000.  CCHS hosts its monthly Art of Medicine Rounds lecture, “The…


Director of Imaging Services joins UMC 

Bobby Boler joined University Medical Center as its new director of Imaging Services. In the role, he oversees X-ray and ultrasound services for the UMC medical practice. A native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., Boler recently retired as a senior magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologist in the Radiologic Health Services with DCH Health System in Tuscaloosa. His…