Outstanding Alumni | Graduate School

Building a Career Without Boundaries: Alumna Uses Interdisciplinary Learning to Strengthen Her Impact in Healthcare

For Dr. Nicole Kocher, healthcare has never been confined to a single role or setting. Throughout her career, she has intentionally pursued opportunities that allow her to bridge clinical care, research, leadership, and public health to create meaningful change for patients and communities.

Building Confidence Through Leadership: How Rachel Daniel Used Interdisciplinary Learning to Expand Her Impact at UAB

By: Nathan Anderson

When Rachel Daniel enrolled in the University of Alabama at Birmingham's (UAB) Leadership and Professional Development (LEAD) Graduate Certificate program, the world was navigating an unprecedented moment of uncertainty. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she was searching for a way to continue investing in herself professionally while building skills she could immediately apply in her career.

Using Artificial Intelligence to Advance Health Equity: How IGS Helped Alumna Build a Purpose-Driven Career

By: Nathan Anderson

Long before she began exploring graduate education, Tayana Robinson, alumna for the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS) program, understood that healthcare disparities affect real people and real communities. Those experiences helped shape her mission to create equitable, community-centered solutions that improve health outcomes and expand access to care—work she continues to pursue today through the interdisciplinary foundation she built at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

How UAB Helped a Recent Alumna Build a Foundation for Community Impact

By: Nathan Anderson

For Sydney Testman, public service has always been more than a career interest—it has been a calling.

Hairston uses Interdisciplinary Education to Shape a Career of Health, Technology, and Innovation

By: Nathan Anderson

Some of the most meaningful opportunities happen where disciplines intersect. Throughout his career, JaMor M. Hairston, PhD, MSHI, MS, has built a reputation for connecting people, ideas, and technologies to address complex healthcare challenges. That interdisciplinary mindset first took shape at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s (UAB) Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS) program, where he designed a degree that combined business, technology, and biotechnology to support his goal of leading innovation in healthcare.

The Science Behind the Magic of Brewing

One simple tour lit a spark in a young mind. But it wasn’t until college, that the spark ignited into something more.