Rate My Professor Catherine Lavender

Catherine Lavender, MD, is a Professor in the Department of Family, Internal, and Rural Medicine at the University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences, where she serves as Director of the Division of Family Medicine Obstetrics. She provides patient care at University Medical Center clinics in Northport and Carrollton. Lavender graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Alabama and received her medical degree from the UA School of Medicine. She completed her residency as chief resident in the UA Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency Program and an obstetrics fellowship at the Austin Medical Education Program in Texas. Prior to joining the faculty full-time, she practiced family medicine for a decade in rural Pickens County, Alabama, at Pickens County Medical Center and Carrollton Primary Care, serving on the hospital board and medical staff executive committee. She also acted as a community professor, volunteer preceptor for College of Community Health Sciences medical students and residents, and affiliate professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology.

Lavender's academic interests include maternal population health, rural health, prenatal care, contraception, and women's health, with research addressing challenges such as substance use disorders in pregnancy and Medicaid provider experiences. She secured a $1.5 million federal grant to study maternal health in rural communities and participates in NIH-funded studies on child brain development. A Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, she was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society as an outstanding alumnus. Lavender has received numerous awards from the UA Heersink School of Medicine, including Excellence and Dedication in Teaching, Outstanding Services in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Outstanding Research Award, Mentorship Award, and Argus Award Finalist for Best Clinical Faculty. Her key publications include co-authorship of “I am busy enough...”: Navigating challenges experienced by Medicaid providers caring for patients with opioid use disorder (Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 2023) and Enhancing Maternal Population Health Training Through Interprofessional Education (American Journal of Public Health, 2024). She contributes to graduate medical education through the Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency and Obstetrics Fellowship programs.