West Virginia University’s expertise on combating the opioid epidemic will be utilized in a federally-funded program targeting seven rural West Virginia counties. The project, supported by a $1 million U.S. Department of Health and Human Services award, aims to strengthen opioid abuse prevention, treatment and recovery services in Calhoun, Gilmer, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Jackson and Tyler counties.
Females are less susceptible to infection but are 10 times more likely than males to develop an autoimmune disorder, such as hypothyroidism or rheumatoid arthritis. The female immune system is “a double-edged sword” in that way, said Jennifer Franko, a teaching assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology at the West Virginia University School of Medicine.
About 70 percent of the human genome doesn’t code for anything. When it’s transcribed to RNA—the instructions our cells follow when they make proteins—most of the message doesn’t contain any useful information. As West Virginia University researcher Aaron Robart put it, it’s “junk DNA.”
Karen and Jerry West, West Virginia University Men’s Basketball and Los Angeles Lakers legend, have made a leadership-level donation to the WVU Medicine Children’s “Grow Children’s” Capital Campaign.
West Virginia University researcher Mariette Barbier is working to preserve the pertussis vaccines’ effectiveness, even as the bacteria adapt. The National Institutes of Health has awarded her $2.6 million, over five years, for the project.
Dr. James P. Griffith and his wife Marla have established the Dr. James P. and Marla R. Griffith Mountaineer Medical Scholar program. A $20,000 commitment, the scholarship will be awarded to a student who chooses to further his or her education on the West Virginia University Health Sciences Charleston Campus, with preference given to those from West Virginia and/or Roane County and who have an interest in internal medicine and/or psychiatry.
Megan Burkart, assistant professor in the West Virginia University School of Medicine’s Division of Physical Therapy, is the first physical therapist in West Virginia to achieve specialization as an Oncologic Clinical Specialist.
Doctors at the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute have treated the first patients in the world in a clinical trial to collect real-world, post-marketing data on the use of a new device for the endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms.
Amelia Adcock, associate director of the West Virginia University Stroke Center, is customizing an app that helps first responders in West Virginia triage stroke patients efficiently when they respond to a 911 call.
West Virginia University researcher Steve Davis is piloting an intervention program that uses telehealth to connect rural West Virginians with nurses who can help them manage—and even prevent—conditions like these. The program will focus on individuals being discharged from long-term care facilities as they transition to life back at home.