Fernando Ovalle, MD has been named director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at UAB.

A native of St. Louis, Ovalle pursued his formal education in Mexico, where he graduated from the University of Monterrey with a bachelor's degree in biology, and from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León with a medical doctorate, summa cum laude. He trained in internal medicine at Henry Ford Hospital and in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at Washington University.

Ovalle joined UAB as faculty in 1997, serving as lead diabetologist and professor of medicine. He has served as an attending physician at both UAB and the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and he has directed UAB's endocrinology fellowship and the Diabetes and Endocrine Clinical Research Unit over 15 years.

In 2008, Ovalle founded UAB's Multidisciplinary Comprehensive Diabetes Clinic. A few years later, he initiated its Diabetes and Glycemic Control Programs, reducing the incidence of severe hypoglycemia among hospitalized patients nearly 50 percent. In 2017, he became the first associate director for Clinical Research of the Comprehensive Diabetes Center.