Also during the 50th Anniversary year, Watts announced a major project that had been selected, through a campuswide competitive process, as UAB's Grand Challenge, a key component of UAB's Forging the Future strategic plan. Watts announced that the goal of the community-based initiative, Live HealthSmart Alabama, was to raise the state of Alabama out of the bottom 10 nationally in key health metrics by the year 2030, and he noted, "There could be no grander or more worthy challenge than this, and we well know we are up to the task. It will require the fullest measure of dedication, innovation and collaboration with our community and state – those very strengths that have defined and propelled UAB from the start and now inspire us to push the frontiers even further in our 50th anniversary year and beyond. With our collective will and energies mobilized behind this monumental effort, we will together have an impact that will be felt for generations to come."
