The word xenotransplantation — or the concept of it — is new to most people and many have lingering questions for its future. Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of organs or tissues from an animal source into a human recipient. Researchers and surgeons have been working towards viable xenotransplant options for decades, in the hopes of being able to save more live and improve the quality of life of their patients.  

If you are watching your diet, you probably know that how much you eat is as important as what you eat. The challenge is figuring out how much is “much”, because you may be eating more than you think you are. The good news is that understanding and managing food portions can help you solve this problem.

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the leading cause of death globally. On average, someone dies of heart disease every 36 seconds in the United States. Although many factors contribute to one’s heart health, wholesome nutrition is a major factor in combating plaque buildup in coronary arteries, which results in the most common type of heart disease, coronary artery disease.

Depending on what color scrubs you wear, you may already know that March 19 is Certified Nurses Day. This annual observance celebrates nurses worldwide who contribute to better patient outcomes through earning and maintaining advanced credentials in their specialty.

The Nursing Communication HCAHPS performance domain is a key measure of delivering excellent care and achieving high levels of patient satisfaction. Congratulations to:  Acute Care for Elders Unit (4 Main), Gastrointestinal Surgical Unit (GISU), and Thoracic Surgery (W5N) on earning Level 5 in Nursing Communication during the past quarter! Your hard work and dedication directly contributed to the highest levels of satisfaction among UAB Medicine patients and visitors.

On May 17, 2021, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed medical marijuana legislation into law, making the Heart of Dixie the 37th state to adopt a medical cannabis program. But while the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) is up and running, it’s estimated that medical marijuana won’t be available to Alabama patients until 2023.

If you feel lost when it comes to making healthy eating decisions, you are not alone. We may know which foods are healthier, but many of us still struggle to put it all together into a lifestyle that we can maintain.

Observed in the third full week of March each year, National Poison Prevention Week helps promote safety by highlighting the dangers of poisoning. Click below for some tips to help keep you and your loved ones safe.

Doctors conduct exams and tests during annual checkups to get an overall picture of a patient’s health. One important part of this checkup concerns heart health, and for some patients, checking heart health may be the most important part of the exam.

“A kidney transplant…is extraordinarily powerful,” said Jayme Locke, M.D., MPH, director of the UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute (CTI), in a recent episode of ‘The Checkup’ podcast. “So is a liver, a heart, a lung—they all change people's lives. They all give life back.”

It is rare that the two largest transplantation societies choose two leaders from the same institution. But this year, University of Alabama at Birmingham nephrologist Vineeta Kumar, M.D., and transplant surgeon Jayme Locke, M.D., MPH, have been named councilors at-large for the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, respectively.

Arnold G. Diethelm, former chair of the Department of Surgery and a leader in transplantation surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, died Jan. 28, 2021. Diethelm was a native of Baltimore, Maryland. His career at UAB began in 1967 when he joined the UAB Department of Surgery, upon the completion of his two-year fellowship at Harvard, at the invitation of John W. Kirklin.