By Alabama Public Radio
Birmingham, AL – The University of Alabama at Birmingham is losing two more medical researchers to programs in Georgia. A neurobiologist known as an expert in brain and spinal cord injuries, and his wife, a pathology researcher, are leaving UAB to begin work next month at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. Prominent AIDS researchers Eric Hunter and Susan Allen left UAB for Emory University in Atlanta earlier this year. The four researchers were recruited with the help of funding from the Georgia Research Alliance. That's a nonprofit group that coordinates large-scale research projects. A recent survey ranked UAB Hospital as one of the top 50 in 14 categories, including cancer care, heart and heart surgery and neurology. Emory University ranked in only seven categories, and the Medical College of Georgia was ranked among the top in only one category. Despite UAB's prominence in the health research fields...officials say the researchers leaving should be a warning shot.