West Virginia University
West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center Development Office
Priorities & Opportunities
1.877.766.4438 (toll free)
304.293.3980 (phone)
304.293.7097 (fax)
development@hsc.wvu.edu
G-106 Health Sciences North
P.O. Box 9008
Morgantown, WV 26506
Giving News
School of Nursing receives $600,000 grant from the Helene Fuld Health Trust
10/29/2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In the largest single grant of its history, the West Virginia University School of Nursing has received $600,000 to establish the Helene Fuld Health Trust Scholarship Fund for Baccalaureate Nursing Students. The school will use the money to help alleviate West Virginia’s shortage of nurses.
“We are ecstatic. This gift moves us forward in our commitment to help meet the growing need for nurses in the state,” said Georgia L. Narsavage, Ph.D., dean of the WVU School of Nursing. “Too many promising students cannot afford to attend a four-year baccalaureate program to become a nurse. The Helene Fuld grant will help correct that.”
Half of the money is earmarked to become a permanent endowment fund. The grant is scheduled to be paid in three annual installments of $200,000, with $100,000 each year to become available immediately for scholarships.
“We anticipate being able to award approximately 20 scholarships to our current nursing students by fall of 2010,” said Elisabeth “Betty” Shelton, Ph.D., associate dean for undergraduate academic affairs of the WVU School of Nursing. “We are excited and pleased to be able to offer financial help to students who might otherwise not have been able to complete a nursing degree.”
In applying for the grant, Narsavage stressed the School of Nursing’s focus on gerontology in the curriculum as well as the school’s emphasis on providing care for vulnerable populations in rural areas. Nursing students complete more than 100 projects each year that deliver public education and healthcare to underserved communities in West Virginia, including volunteer work in free clinics as part of their training.
written by HSC News Service
Dr. Jame Abraham installed as first Bonnie Wells Wilson Distinguished Professor
10/02/2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Jame Abraham, M.D., was installed as the first Bonnie Wells Wilson Distinguished Professor and Eminent Scholar in Breast Cancer Research at West Virginia University on Oct. 2.
Abraham is chief of Hematology/Oncology at WVU and medical director of the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center.
The professorship was made possible by a $5 million gift to the Cancer Center from Jo and Ben Statler in 2007.
Dr. Abraham, who founded and leads WVU’s Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program, is principal investigator for more’ than 10 clinical trials. His research is widely published in leading cancer journals, and he also co-edits the Bethesda Handbook of Clinical Oncology, one of the best-selling handbooks in oncology.
Abraham’s research in chemotherapy-induced cognitive dysfunction has earned him the reputation as an expert on chemobrain. He and his team were one of the first to identify the underlying cause of chemotherapy’s effect on memory problems.
His initial research at the National Institutes of Health focused on developing new drugs to overcome drug resistance in patients with cancer. Abraham was the study chairman of one of the first human trials of the drug ixabepilone, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of advanced breast cancer in 2007.
Since joining WVU, Abraham has been principal investigator of more than 25 breast cancer clinical trials and currently leads an effort to develop a statewide clinical trials network.
He has received several national and international awards as well as the Clinician of the Year award and the Outstanding Faculty award from the WVU Department of Medicine.
Abraham gave a talk, “Patient Centered Breast Cancer Treatment: Lessons from India-Bethesda-West Virginia,” during the installation.
The professorship is one of two endowed positions funded by the Statlers. J. Michael Ruppert, M.D., Ph.D., was installed as the first Jo and Ben Statler Chair and Eminent Scholar in Breast Cancer Research during the April celebration of the Cancer Center’s expansion. Their gift also established the Bonnie Wells Wilson Mobile Mammography Program, named in honor of Mrs. Statler’s late mother.