Health

Trigger Warning: This message contains content about suicide.

While most people go years without needing the smoke detectors in their homes, they would never choose to get rid of a device that saves lives and prevents injury in the event of an emergency. But that’s often what happens to public health systems across the country. Dr. Christopher J. Martin, professor for the West Virginia University School of Public Health, calls it the “paradox of public health.”

Transformative renovations within the West Virginia University School of Dentistry are radically modernizing facilities to enhance patient care and oral healthcare education for the next generation of West Virginia dentists and dental hygienists.

In a new study, Sunil Sharma, a researcher in WVU's School of Medicine, found that rural COVID patients who end up in an intensive care unit face a greater risk of death than their urban counterparts do. He also discovered that rural patients with COVID-linked acute respiratory distress syndrome are more likely to die than patients with ARDS that’s due to another cause.

West Virginia University will launch several projects and programs designed to address challenges facing rural Appalachia — everything from small-scale farming to supporting the state’s aging population.

A 39-foot customized Winnebago will serve as a medical clinic on wheels in even the most hard-to-reach areas of the state.

President Gordon Gee sent a letter to West Virginia University faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends on Monday, Nov. 8 to address concerns raised by his advisory role at the University of Austin noting this opportunity highlights how transformation across the WVU System can help lift all of higher education.

Uveal melanoma may be a rare form of cancer, but it’s almost always fatal. No treatments currently available for it can significantly lengthen someone’s life. WVU School of Pharmacy researcher Mark McLaughlin and his colleagues are working to change that. The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a clinical trial of their new drug that precisely targets uveal melanoma, even after the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

To better equip West Virginia teachers and other school personnel to identify the signs and symptoms of mental health crises among students, Rawn Boulden, assistant professor, and Christine Schimmel, associate professor, of the School Counseling Program in the West Virginia University College of Education and Human Services, have received a five-year, $500,000 grant to provide Youth Mental Health First Aid Training in West Virginia schools.

Infectious disease experts from both West Virginia University and Marshall University will team up to identify and track SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in West Virginia in hopes of preparing for and preventing future outbreaks.