UAB Hospital (Birmingham, Ala.). The National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital is home to more than 330 physicians and researchers who together treat an estimated 5,000 new cancer patients annually. The center is recognized as a Blue Distinction Center for Complex & Rare Cancers by Blue Cross Blue Shield and recently received a $29 million grant from the NCI toward cancer research. Researchers from the cancer center at UAB generated more than 1,600 peer-reviewed, cancer-focused publications from 2011 to 2015.