By the 21st century, a new model of the federal-grant university had emerged — what we call the mediversity, or the medical university. To trace the contours of this new model, it is useful to consider the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), which historically had not been an elite research hub but gained prominence in the last two decades. The research success of an institution like UAB illustrates how non-elite institutions could become serious players in the federal research-funding game. It also highlights an important transformation: In recent years, an increasing focus on medicine and health-related functions has become central to many institutional priorities, including the pursuit of federal dollars for research and patient care.
In 1971, Birmingham, Alabama, was not far removed from the events of the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement. It was also identified as a center for steel production, though the industry was declining sharply. In that year, it attracted some attention when one of the stars (Milburn Stone) of a highly rated show (Gunsmoke) elected to have heart bypass surgery at the institution’s hospital. The actor’s surgery was conducted by a pioneering cardiac surgeon, John Kirklin, who was recruited to the medical school and university hospital in 1966 from the Mayo Clinic. UAB only became an independent institution within the University of Alabama system in 1969. In subsequent years, the growth of UAB and its accompanying health enterprises proved transformative for Birmingham and the state. Today, UAB is the largest employer not only for Birmingham but for the state.
These developments are typical of the mediversity. With UAB, Birmingham, once known as the “Pittsburgh of the South,” is now widely known for surgical steel. UAB and the closely affiliated UAB Medicine and the UAB Health system, which are overseen by the same board, make up a health-care powerhouse partnership. While the university is a separate entity from the UAB Health system, the enterprises are closely intertwined. For instance, Ray L. Watts, UAB’s president, serves as chair of the board that oversees both UAB Medicine and the UAB Health system, with other UAB officials also included in the governing structure. Southern Research, a nonprofit research organization, also operates in close partnership with UAB.