News

Your family health history may seem like a gloomy topic to bring up with relatives, but gathering this information could help you lower your and your immediate family’s risk of developing or dying from diseases such as cancer.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB hosted its inaugural O’Neal Iron Strong Awards July 28, 2023, in the Barbara and Edward Partridge Atrium at Wallace Tumor Institute. The ceremony celebrated nine cancer survivors who benefitted from clinical trials and helped advance the knowledge on cancer care.

Birmingham’s Pepper Place has a striking new addition to its teeming farmers’ market and noted food offerings — a multimillion-dollar cancer research laboratory. 

Tight-Knit is a new knitting group open to all patients of UAB Medicine Oncology. Starting July 31, it will meet every Monday from 3-5 p.m. in room 101 of the Wallace Tumor Institute.

UAB Hospital was once again named the best hospital in Alabama by U.S. News & World Report, in its 2023-2024 Best Hospital rankings. The University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital also claims the No. 1 ranking as the best hospital in the Birmingham metro area.

As one of only five universities selected, UAB joins the NIH’s first major program to address how structural and institutional factors of persistent poverty relate to cancer.

While it is considered a rarer cancer diagnosis, the American Cancer Society says that sarcoma still impacts over 13,400 individuals each year across the United States.

The Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Clinic at UAB Hospital has been named a Center of Excellence by the Cure HHT foundation. HHT is an uncommon but serious genetic disease that prevents blood vessels from developing properly.

Ridley Brown answers questions about her career journey and experience as an employee of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

At the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, our Supportive Care Clinic connects patients with a wide range of programs to enhance their well-being during treatment and afterward, including UAB Medicine’s Arts in Medicine (AIM) program.

A full course of radiation therapy in milliseconds rather than weeks: That’s the promise of flash therapy.

Alabama is one of three states currently offering an ovarian cancer car tag — and it is changing the future of ovarian cancer research. Since the tag’s inception, proceeds from each ovarian cancer car tag purchased have gone directly to the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Division of Gynecologic Oncology to support ovarian cancer research.

UAB was well represented at one of the signature oncology conferences this year, ASCO, held in Chicago, Illinois, from May 31–June 4.

Cancer can put a person’s health at risk, but it also poses challenges to physical, social, emotional, and mental well-being. In response, the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB has integrated the UAB Supportive Care Psycho-Oncology Program into patient care, to promote a culture of caring for the emotional impact of cancer.

Markus Bredel, M.D., Ph.D., is lead author on “Haploinsufficiency of NFKBIA reshapes the epigenome antipodal to the IDH mutation and imparts disease fate in diffuse gliomas” in Cell Reports Medicine (2023). This groundbreaking discovery not only marks a significant milestone in our understanding of diffuse gliomas but also paves the way for improved predictions of disease outcomes and the development of targeted treatment approaches.

In 2022, the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB celebrated its 50th anniversary, highlighting five decades of cancer research and care for patients in Alabama. During the State of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center address, Director Barry Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., emphasized the Cancer Center's continuous growth and the people and initiatives shaping the future of cancer research and care. To learn more, read our 2022 Year in Review.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, in partnership with the Alabama Department of Public Health and the American Cancer Society, recently launched Wipe Out Cervical Cancer ­— a statewide action plan to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem in Alabama.

Emily Lombardo answers questions about her cancer journey and experience as a patient of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement recently hosted a windshield tour of several rural underserved communities in the Alabama Black Belt as part of an 18-month program called A Family Affair, which supports rural African American breast cancer survivors and their female family members.

UAB Hospital has received a 2023 Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ from Healthgrades, which recognizes hospitals that provide an overall positive patient experience during hospital stays. UAB Hospital was one of 445 U.S. hospitals recognized and one of only three in Alabama.

Join us Wednesday, June 14, at 6 p.m. for a conversation about the individual lived experiences of people who’ve faced cervical cancer with members of the cervical cancer community and UAB Medicine physicians, followed by a Q&A session. Advanced registration is required.

Joseph Thompson was an average 22-year-old college graduate. He enjoyed hanging out with friends on the weekend, going to work, attending music concerts and watching every sport that was on his television screen. But on March 3, 2022, he received news that would change life as he knew it.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB is offering our community an opportunity to join the AMPLIFY clinical trial, a study funded by the National Cancer Institute that is designed to advance research by helping cancer survivors get healthier.

Francine Walton is a program director in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach & Engagement. In honor of Mother’s Day, we asked Walton to share how her mother has shaped her perspective on the cancer journey, including the importance of hope and resilience in the face of adversity.