Last week the UAB Board of Trustees announced Dawn Bulgarella and Dr. Anupam Agarwal as CEO of the UAB Health System and dean of the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine respectively.

Bulgarella and Agarwal filled these roles in an interim capacity in June of last year as longtime UAB veterans. Bulgarella joined the UAB Health Services Foundation in 1993 and Agarwal came on as director of research for the division of nephrology, or kidney diseases, in 2003 according to the UAB press release.

Agarwal also served as executive vice dean for the Heersink School of Medicine from 2014-2022 following the departure of current UAB President Dr. Ray Watts as The Lede previously reported.

“I look forward to continuing to work with and serve Heersink School of Medicine students, faculty and staff and to collaborate with university, Health System and University of Alabama System leaders, as well as our many partners and supporters,” Agarwal said in the release. “I am proud to have been a part of this great institution’s unprecedented growth for nearly 20 years and take very seriously this great responsibility to build on our strong foundation.”

The Heersink School of Medicine currently has 800 medical students, around 1,100 residents and fellows, and a faculty of more than 1,600 according to the release.