School of Public Health

Pregnancy doesn’t have to sabotage athletes’ fitness. Shon Rowan—a researcher with the WVU School of Medicine—and his colleagues used a wearable device called WHOOP to monitor the heart rate and heart rate variability of women before they conceived, throughout pregnancy and after giving birth. The data that the researchers collected from the WHOOP devices suggests that some women may be in better shape after delivering their babies than they were before they became pregnant.

Dr. Brian Hendricks, a research assistant professor with the West Virginia University School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology, is trying to better understand the needs of a historically underserved population in West Virginia — pregnant women with substance use disorder.

As a new year begins – and the inevitable wave of health-related resolutions go into effect – one West Virginia University researcher reminds parents in particular of the critical role they play when it comes to shaping their children’s self-image and lifelong relationship with food.

Cancer treatment isn’t just a matter of shrinking or removing a tumor. It also involves preserving or improving the patient’s quality of life. Rehabilitation services—such as behavioral therapies to alleviate pain and exercise to reduce fatigue—are a valuable way to do that. But they often aren’t included in cancer patients’ plans of care.

As West Virginia became the epicenter of the nation’s opioid epidemic, donor dollars brought Dr. Judith Feinberg to the West Virginia University School of Medicine to expand research focused on the intersection of addiction and infectious disease. More than five years later, her work is making a difference by expanding testing and increasing access to treatments for diseases spread through injection drug use – HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

As the fictional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles roam sewers to fight their archenemy Shredder and his goons, a team of real-life West Virginia University superhero scientists lurk around the portals to the underground land of drainage and waste to battle a more sinister villain: COVID-19.

The West Virginia University School of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded their mask-observation study, with plans to continue the project in the spring.

Bringing together families, friends and fellow classmates from across the country and around the world to celebrate the August and December Classes of 2020, West Virginia University will host 14 online commencement ceremonies for the 2,680 graduates on Saturday, Dec.19.

The West Virginia University School of Public Health has been reaccredited through December 2027, making it one of 67 schools to receive national accreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health.

Large-scale behavior change is a critical component when it comes to mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, as one West Virginia University researcher points out, it can also be leveraged to address a separate, yet, equally important, persistent public health crisis: gun violence in our nation’s schools.