Irfan Asif, MD has been named associate dean for Primary Care and Rural Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. Asif currently serves as chair of the UAB Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Asif joined UAB in 2018 from the Greenville Health System and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine where he served as the vice chair of academics and research in the Department of Family Medicine and as the sports medicine fellowship director.

He earned his medical degree in 2007 at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed his family medicine residency at the University of Washington with a concentration in sports medicine.

He has served in several academic leadership positions, including sports medicine fellowship director at the University of Tennessee, sports medicine fellowship director at USC School of Medicine Greenville, interim director of the family medicine residency program in Greenville, and also as the interim chair for the Department of Family Medicine in Greenville.

He has served on the Board of Directors for the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and is chair of the AMSSM Collaborative Research Network. He is an associate editor for the journals Sports Health and the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Asif will be replacing William Curry, MD, who will be retiring from the School of Medicine but will continue his role with the UAB Health System in population health.

"It is an honor to be chosen," Asif said. "I look forward to working with dean of the School of Medicine Dr. Vickers, our regional campuses, and other partners to improve the primary care pipeline and address disparities in health outcomes, particularly in rural communities, through novel health care strategies that are developed at UAB."