Dr. Parmar, an Alabama native, graduated from the UAB School of Medicine in 2008. After completing a surgical residency at the University of California, San Francisco – East Bay Department of Surgery, he completed a fellowship in Advanced Gastrointestinal and Minimally Invasive Surgery at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. He is board certified in General Surgery, has received numerous teaching and research awards, and has expertise in advanced laparoscopy of the gastroint...
Dr. Corey is a fellowship-trained minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgeon, specializing in foregut and anti-reflux operations and abdominal wall hernias. She completed her minimally invasive GI fellowship and general surgery residency at UAB. A Texas native, Dr. Corey graduated from the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.
Dr. Corey has published two book chapters on bariatric surgery and is a member of the American College of Surgery, the Association of Academic Sur...
Dr. Daniel Chu joined the UAB Department of Surgery in July 2014 as an assistant professor in the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery. Born in Michigan and raised in North Carolina, Dr. Chu completed his undergraduate studies at Yale in 2002 and obtained his medical degree from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2006. He completed his general surgery residency at Boston University Medical Center in 2013, which included a two-year research fellowship. Dr. Chu then completed a fellowship in ...
George Yang, MD, PhD, went to undergraduate and medical school at Northwestern University. He earned his PhD in molecular genetics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed his residency in general surgery at Stanford University. He remained on faculty at Stanford until coming to UAB in 2018. He is a member of the Association for Academic Surgery, the Society of University Surgeons, of which he is a past-President, and the American Surgical Association, and a member of the Editorial...
Dr. Kennedy is certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery and by the American Board of Surgery. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery. Kennedy’s main interest is in laparoscopic approaches to complex colorectal disease. He has experience with all advanced laparoscopic and minimally invasive approaches including single-incision laparoscopy and robotic surgery. His clinical areas of expertis...
James Bibb received bachelor’s and master’s degrees with honors from Murray State University and the University of Kentucky, respectively. He worked in the Cell Biology and Physiology Department at Washington University in St. Louis before completing his doctorate in cellular and developmental biology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His doctoral thesis characterized the poliovirus receptor protein in Eckard Wimmer’s laboratory. Dr. Bibb’s postdoctoral training was conducted i...
Jamie Cannon, M.D., FACS is an associate professor of surgery and directs the robotic surgical education program for the residency program. Dr. Cannon is double board certified in general and colorectal surgery. Dr. Cannon is a leader in minimally invasive approaches to colorectal disease, with an emphasis on robotics, colorectal cancer and sphincter-sparing operations. She is one of the highest volume academic colorectal surgeons in the country. Originally from Arizona, she is a graduate of the...
Dr. Jayleen Grams joined the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2009. A native of Minnesota, Grams received her undergraduate degree from St. Cloud State University and matriculated into the Medical Scientist Training Program at the UAB. Here, she completed her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology and her M.D. in 2003. She returned to Minnesota to complete a general surgery residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., followed by a fellowship in minimally invasive ...
Dr. John R. Porterfield joined the UAB Department of Surgery in 2008, returning to Alabama, his home state, after training at the Mayo Clinic. He has since achieved associate professorship and additionally serves as director of the General Surgery Residency Program. A skilled instructor, with a gift for teaching, he has won numerous awards including several UAB Faculty Teacher of the Year awards. He is a dedicated mentor to a group of UAB student researchers and thrives on counseling high school...
Karin Hardiman, M.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the UAB Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery. She was recruited from the University of Michigan in 2019 where she was in academic practice for eight years. Dr. Hardiman practices at the Birmingham VA and University Hospital. Her clinical interests are in colorectal cancer, anal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and anorectal disease. She utilizes minimally invasive surgery where possible.
Dr. Melanie Morris joined the faculty as an associate professor of surgery in 2010. In 2016, she was named the chief of general surgery for the Birmingham VA hospital. A native of Tennessee, she completed her undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University and her medical degree at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She completed her surgical residency in general surgery at Oregon Health and Science University and a colon and rectal surgery fellowship at the University of Texas Hea...
An Alabama resident since childhood, Dr. Stahl attended Auburn University where he graduated with highest honors and a BS in biology. He received his M.D. degree from The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, and completed his internship and surgery residency at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham. He entered private practice in 1994, ultimately forming Cahaba Valley Surgical Group, and practiced a full range of general surgery including gastrointestinal, breast, th...
Dr. Hollis is a colorectal surgeon within the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery. A native of Dothan, AL, Dr. Hollis completed his undergraduate studies at Washington and Lee University before returning to Alabama for medical school at UAB. Dr. Hollis stayed at UAB for general surgery residency. During residency, he dedicated two additional years to training in outcomes research and obtained a Masters of Science in Public Health at the UAB School of Public Health. Following residency, Dr. Holl...
Dr. Elson received his M.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, trained in Internal Medicine at New York Hospital/Cornell, then did his Gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Chicago. After doing full-time research in immunology at N.I.H., he joined the Faculty of the Division of Gastroenterology at the Medical College of Virginia. He moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham to become Director of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and subsequently served a...
Dr. Elmets major research interests focus on environmental influences on the skin and on the immune system. His research has investigated how ultraviolet light and other environmental agents interact with immunological function of the skin. Initial studies in mice showed that in vivo exposure of murine skin produced a local deficiency in the antigen presenting function of skin, thereby resulting in the preferential generation of antigen specific regulatory T-cells. Studies examining the mechanis...
My research goals are to develop an improved understanding of abnormal regulation of malignant stem and progenitor cells in hematologic malignancies and to develop effective approaches to eliminate these cells to enhance outcomes for these cancers. In addition to being a practicing clinical Hematologist-Oncologist and Hematopoietic Cell Transplant physician, I have extensive experience in studying normal and malignant hematopoietic stem cell regulation in the translational laboratory setting.
Dr. Mukhtar conducted his Ph.D. research on Arabidopsis transcriptional regulatory networks at the Max Planck Institute Cologne, Germany under the supervision of Dr. Imre Somssich. He was fortunate to continue his postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Jeff Dangl, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He employed genomics, bioinformatics and computer-aided systems-level analyses...
Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH joined UAB in 2015 to establish the Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship. She is the Gay and Bew White Endowed Professor in Pediatric Oncology and serves as Vice Chair for Outcomes in the Dept. of Pediatrics. She also serves as the Associate Director for Outcomes Research at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Bhatia completed her training in Blood Banking, Hematology/ Oncology and BMT from the University of Minnesota, where she also received her MPH in Epide...
Dr. Stephen Watts began his career in aquatic science in the 9th grade, when he became enthusiastically interested in all things aquatic. Having completed degrees in marine and aquatic biology, he joined UAB in 1987, and has developed a strong program in aquatic and marine science. His interests include basic science, as well as applied science (aquaculture) and subsequently medical application of aquatic animal models.
He is widely known as an expert in aquatic nutrition science, and h...
Dr. Manne obtained his M.S. (Biochemistry, Histochemistry, Parasitology, Zoonosis) and Ph.D. (energy metabolic pathways of endoparasites) degrees from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. His postdoctoral training was in molecular immunology and vaccine development for malaria (Malaria Research Center, Delhi, India); in helicobacter infections (School of Microbiology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia); and in histopathology, molecular tumor biology, and preclinical translational...
