Health

Most children who get COVID-19 recover quickly and completely, but some develop symptoms that linger for weeks or months. These symptoms constitute “long COVID,” a condition that can cause a range of issues, including altered smell and taste, fatigue and concentration problems. WVU researchers Kathryn Moffett and Lesley Cottrell are investigating how this poorly understood condition affects kids and their families.

A summer program at West Virginia University is providing research opportunities in neuroscience for undergraduate students from underrepresented and global communities, including Ukraine. By training undergraduate students who are interested in continuing their education and conducting state-of-the-art research, the program aims to meet the growing need for neuroscience graduate-level students with research experience.

David and Dr. Jo Ann Goldbaugh Shaw, WVU alums and Wheeling natives, have built a legacy of innovation, education and transformation at WVU through charitable giving. Their latest contribution benefits WVU Athletics, the WVU School of Medicine, the David and Jo Ann Shaw Center for Simulation Training and Education for Patient Safety (STEPS) and WVU Medicine Children’s.

By interviewing researchers and physicians, Zachary Ramsey — a doctoral candidate in the School of Public Health — identified four pressing health issues that sexual and gender minorities face: discrimination, heteronormativity, health care system barriers and the interconnectedness of physical, mental and social health.

With a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the University is launching an immersive, interdisciplinary program that centers on WVU’s Inhalation Facility. The 40 doctoral students who participate will use the Facility, one of only a few like it in the country, to analyze the toxicity of air samples they’ve collected in the field and investigate how air pollution affects entire systems of the body, rather than just single cells.

With stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, youth spent more time at home with family and were more isolated from in-person interaction with peers. Largely due to this social isolation from peers, substance use among youth declined, according to researchers at the WVU School of Public Health.

New research from Ednilson Bernardes at the John Chambers College of Business and Economics shows pressure from manufacturers and suppliers of opioids, particularly national corporations, influenced how pharmacies bought and distributed those prescriptions.

With help from grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, Bernard Schreurs, a researcher with West Virginia University's School of Medicine and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, is studying the mechanisms behind Alzheimer’s disease and PTSD. What he and his colleagues discover may suggest new ways to prevent or treat these memory-related diseases.

At least 5% of pregnant women will experience an eating disorder during their pregnancies, yet no rapid screening tool exists to identify who they are. Researchers with the West Virginia University School of Public Health and School of Medicine teamed up to make one.

Messages of hope and thunderous applause resounded throughout the West Virginia University Coliseum and Canady Creative Arts Center as nearly 4,500 May 2022 graduates received their diplomas during 16 in-person commencement ceremonies filled with traditional pomp and circumstance May 13-15.