The University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Public Health (SOPH)
The UAB-SOPH is accredited through the Council on Education for Public Health. The mission of the UAB-SOPH is to develop, teach, and apply knowledge to promote health and prevent disease. The UAB-SOPH’s mission is accomplished through innovative multi-disciplinary public health curriculum because today’s health challenges require the development of new interventions, the implementation of new models, and the emergence of new systems. UAB-SOPH also includes a dynamic and timely research agenda that puts the school at the cutting edge of public health research. Both are critical to improving the health of the citizens of Alabama and the world. Currently, the UAB-SOPH is home to a number of public health practice-oriented centers including the Center for the Study of Community Health, the Deep South Center for Occupational Health & Safety, the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, the Sparkman Center for Global Health, and a local planning site of the Region IV Public Health Training Center.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Medicine (SOM)
The University of Alabama System–composed of the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa), the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville–was created in 1969. At the same time, the Medical College of Alabama, located in Birmingham, became known as the “University of Alabama School of Medicine.” Under a revised operating plan adopted by the board of trustees in 1980, the University of Alabama School of Medicine now has responsibility for all aspects of educating and training candidates for the M.D. degree, providing graduate education in biomedical and related health sciences, developing and analyzing new knowledge both in basic and in clinical sciences, and understanding and appreciating the socioeconomic factors involved in providing medical care. The school and its faculty must also provide patient care, not only for the benefit of clinical education but also to help meet the medical care needs of the region. In the pre-doctoral medical education program, the first two basic science years are taught on the main campus of the University of Alabama School of Medicine at Birmingham; the last two clinical years are divided among the main campus and the two branch campuses in Huntsville and Tuscaloosa.
The Alabama Fire College’s Workplace Safety Training (WST) Program
AFC is a state-controlled postsecondary institution that serves as the training and educational entity for firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, and other emergency response workers in Alabama under the governance of the Firefighters Personnel Standards and Education Commission. AFC’s programs are delivered in all of Alabama’s 67 counties and to U.S. Department of Defense fire departments, local agencies and private industry across the United States and in international locations each year. AFC is accredited by both the National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications and the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress. The course inventory currently includes 42 levels of nationally-accredited certification, with an additional 6 levels pending. AFC’s courses are accepted for college credit through articulation agreements with several colleges and universities.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC)
The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), located in Jackson, is the state’s only academic health science center and is the leader in providing health-care professionals for the state. UMMC is an umbrella organization that combines the University Hospitals and Health System (UHHS) and University Physicians (UP), the medical faculty practice plan. UHHS is comprised of the teaching hospitals for all University of Mississippi Medical Center educational programs and serves as a 722-bed diagnostic and treatment referral center for the entire state. Inpatient admissions total approximately 28,000 annually. Outpatient and emergency department visits exceed 250,000 per year.
