Halloween is the official holiday of fear, when haunted attractions and horror movie marathons offer plenty of scares. But here’s an important Halloween question for medical experts: Is it possible to be frightened to death?

Gregory Chapman, M.D., a professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Division of Cardiovascular Disease and cardiologist at the UAB Cardiovascular Institute, provides an insider’s perspective on the field of cardiovascular medicine in his new book “A Strong & Steady Pulse: Stories from a Cardiologist.”

On the afternoon of April 25, 2018, Colin Tucker felt as though a railroad spike was being shoved through his chest.  

Each year, the Amputee Coalition recognizes the month of April as Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month (LLAM) to honor its community and educate others about limb loss and limb difference.

The UAB Medicine Division of Vascular Surgery & Endovascular Therapy received the highest possible rating in the Vascular Quality Initiative® (VQI) awards program. The rating is reserved for medical centers that successfully participate in the VQI, which is a nationwide effort to improve cardiovascular care.

An estimated 11 million Americans have heart valve disease (HVD), a condition that involves damage to one or more of the heart’s valves. Symptoms often go undetected or are dismissed as a normal part of aging, yet HVD can lead to serious heart conditions or even death. This makes it especially dangerous.

The UAB Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) is again the recipient of awards for quality and performance. For 2021, three national organizations that evaluate and spotlight high-performing hospitals and health systems recognized the UAB CVI in various categories of achievement.

Heart disease is a leading cause of death, so it’s important to keep track of your heart’s state of health. Getting regular checkups with your doctor is the best way to do that. It’s also a good idea to understand the basic “heart-health numbers,” which are measures of cardiovascular fitness and may indicate risks for certain medical conditions.

Cooper Pierce was 13 years old when doctors diagnosed him with pulmonary hypertension. After undergoing a heart and double-lung transplant at UAB Hospital, he is now a student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and hopes his story can inspire others.

This past spring, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) reported that emergency rooms across the United States were seeing a large drop in heart attack admissions. UAB Medicine also saw a decrease in cardiovascular event cases, due to patients’ fear of COVID-19. UAB Medicine responded by expanding its telehealth services and creating policies to protect patients and staff, so that it could safely provide cardiovascular care to those who need it.

UAB Hospital has been again named the best hospital in Alabama by U.S. News & World Report. Additionally, the magazine named eight specialty programs within the top 50 in the nation, seven of those within the top 30, along with two others noted as being “high performing” in the 2020-2021 Best Hospital rankings, released today.

Two University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing faculty, Associate Professor and Senior Director of the Center for Nursing Excellence at UAB Hospital and HRTSA Clinic Connie White-Williams, PhD, RN, NE-BC, FAHA, FAAN and Jane H. Brock–Florence Nightingale Endowed Professor and Associate Dean for Clinical and Global Partnerships Maria Shirey, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, ANEF, FACHE, FNAP, FAAN, are the lead and senior authors, respectively, on an American Heart Association statement paper designed to alert health care providers of the importance of social determinants of health for underserved patients with heart failure.