News

Clinical trials serve as the bridge between research and patient care. They allow scientists to test a new drug, therapy or procedure before it becomes the standard, but how exactly do clinical trials work, why are they important and how is the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center working to make them more accessible for everyone?

Three years after leaving her home country of Nigeria, UAB doctoral candidate Zainab M. Shonibare is now studying gynecologic cancers in the lab of O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center scientist Mythreye Karthikeyan, Ph.D., in the hopes of bringing the results of her research to cancer patients and survivors across the world.

As the world adjusts to a new way of life in the shadow of a global pandemic, the higher risks faced by many cancer patients and survivors are now colliding with those associated with the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

The Office of Community Outreach & Engagement at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center celebrates its silver anniversary this year after 25 years of providing health advocacy and cancer education to communities across the state and the South as a whole.

After 18 months of excruciating migraines, Birmingham-area businessman Christopher Sheheane felt as though he was at the end of his rope. With the migraines came the inability to think clearly, to lead his company, and to be the father and husband he wanted to be.  

In December 2020, the Division of Hematology and Oncology began offering High-Dose-Ara-C (HiDAC) through the UAB Extended Care Clinic, an outpatient chemotherapy service that eliminates the need for patients to be admitted to the hospital for treatment.

To celebrate 2021 ArtBLINK Gala Director's Circle honoree George Wheelock III and his almost 40 years on the Advisory Board, the O'Neal Cancer Center revisits this 2008 story about Wheelock from the archives with fresh eyes and annotated updates on Wheelock's life.

Rehabilitation therapy helps people recover from many medical conditions, such as stroke, heart attack, and injury. Rehab for patients with cancer is equally valuable, but it isn’t often used in the United States. The new Cancer Rehabilitation Program, developed by physicians in the UAB Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, seeks to change that at UAB Medicine.

As an active member on the Advisory Board of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, Susan Bishop Williams advocates for the highest quality of care for cancer patients and their families. However, she says she never fully understood the challenges associated with cancer treatment until she received her own cancer diagnosis.

In 2021, the Advisory Board of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center held its annual ArtBLINK Gala virtually for the first time. Now, with their second virtual ArtBLINK in the books, the board looks back on its history and the history of the gala.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s 35th Annual ArtBLINK Gala raised $767,000 for the Cancer Center’s Fund for Excellence. The annual gala is the culmination of its advisory board’s yearly fundraising campaign and has served as one of the city’s premier social events for more than 30 years.

Shannon E. Meier, a doctoral candidate at UAB, gravitated toward cancer after testing out three different areas of research during her student rotations. In 2016, she decided to join the O’Neal Cancer Center in its mission to become a national leader in cancer research.

The relationship between cancer research and clinical care has never been more important, but the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UAB Health System are leveraging the best of both worlds by aligning their missions under the leadership of the Cancer Center through the Cancer Service Line.

Young New Jersey state trooper Barry Sleckman never thought he would be trading in his basement repair shop for a lab. Now the new director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, Sleckman has since built his career on the pursuit of what he calls “great things.”

UAB will launch the Pat and Jean Sullivan Comprehensive Head and Neck Cancer Survivor Care Program in 2020 — the first effort of its kind in the country.

Dedicated community leaders helped the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama make a record donation to the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Cancer research has traditionally focused on killing the disease, but Bhatia is a pioneer in proposing the next question entirely: What happens to her patients once cancer is gone?

Vestavia teens raise more than $200K for specialized, young adult cancer care at UAB.

The Cancer Center is working in partnership with the GO2 Foundation with a $1.6 million grant they received from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to reach underserved Alabamians who are most at-risk for lung cancer.

Noah Sharafeldin used UAB's supercomputer to identify biomarkers linked with "the fog," a cognitive impairment in patients who received a blood or marrow transplant. She's also testing a way to repair the damage: brain games.

Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia can be treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. While these effective drugs lead to deep remission and prolonged survival, primitive leukemia stem cells resist elimination during the remission and persist as a major barrier to cure.

It took four months of detective work, but physicians at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found the rare cause of a woman’s medical issues. UAB’s joint pituitary disorders clinic, featuring the unusual combination of endocrinology and neurosurgery, identified and removed a pituitary tumor from Debra Nelson that had gone undiagnosed for more than six years.  

Edward E. Partridge, M.D. and Barbara Partridge were honored honored by the Estes family for their exceptional contributions to the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.