School of Public Health

Amna Umer, an epidemiologist in the West Virginia University Department of Pediatrics, and her research team are working to circumvent barriers to effective healthcare for infants with neonatal-abstinence syndrome. In a recent project, they evaluated a new tool to collect real-time information on statewide NAS diagnoses and cases of fetal substance exposure. Their goal is to help make West Virginia the first state with such a system.

West Virginia University School of Public Health students recently had the opportunity to join their peers and health experts from across the country to share ideas and solutions for our nation’s most pressing health issues.

In an effort to provide an affordable option for students seeking a graduate degree, the West Virginia University School of Public Health has established the first shared-credit degree program with a program outside of the University system.

It’s no secret that West Virginia has some of the highest rates of obesity and cardiovascular disease in the country. But to create a healthier landscape in some of our state’s unhealthiest counties, a few West Virginia University faculty believe you have to empower the entire community.

In a report published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, West Virginia University researcher Michael McCawley and his colleagues pinpoint shortcomings in how miners’ exposure to respirable coal-mine dust is monitored. Inhaling this dust over time leads to black lung disease.

West Virginia University School of Public Health and the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute are collaborating to create a new leadership position that will focus on advancing brain health research and services to combat the state’s ongoing opioid epidemic.

Kim Innes, an epidemiology professor from the West Virginia University School of Public Health, and her team are studying the potential benefits of a simple meditation or music listening practice for improving memory and cognitive functioning, as well as mood, sleep and quality of life in adults with subjective cognitive decline, or SCD.

Over the next five years, a West Virginia University partnership with three divisions of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources will target the prevalence of neonatal abstinence syndrome and the effect it has on children’s developmental outcomes.

West Virginia University researcher Robert Bossarte has received a $13.3-million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to compare three treatment strategies for rural depressed patients: antidepressants alone; antidepressants combined with unguided cognitive behavior therapy provided online; and antidepressants combined with guided online cognitive behavior therapy.

Three West Virginia University public health students have joined nine others from top institutions to work with leading organizations on current public health issues affecting our communities.