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School of Medicine (Eastern) News 2004
Contract Approved for WVU Eastern Division Clinical Campus MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – The West Virginia University Board of Governors awarded a $4.79 million contract to W. Harley Miller Contractors Inc., of Martinsburg, to construct a new, two-story Eastern Division Clinical Campus. “W. Harley Miller Contractors is looking forward to continuing the relationship with WVU, especially in the Eastern Panhandle,” according to Brad Bolyard, President of W. Harley Miller Contractors, Inc. The 36,650 square-foot building will house a 200-seat auditorium, a 40-seat classroom, several meeting rooms, a paper-and-electronic library, a Resident Suite and a computer-based study area. A 12,500 square-foot portion of the second floor will remain unfinished “shell” space. The facility will be built on two acres of land leased from City Hospital in Martinsburg. "This state-of-the-art building, which includes classrooms, facilities for continuing medical education and long distance learning technology, will further our mission to improve the health of West Virginians through the education of health professionals,” said Mitch Jacques, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the Eastern Division of the West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., secured funding for the project from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Service Administration. The total cost of the project is $6.4 million. “We could never have reached this milestone without the vision and hard work of Senator Byrd and the people of the Eastern Panhandle. Together, we have begun something that will serve many generations of West Virginians, “ said Robert M. D’Alessandri, M.D., vice president for health sciences at West Virginia University. “The Eastern Division building is the realization of a dream for WVU – to provide a permanent home for the educational efforts in this region that are now an integral part of our curriculum." Construction of the building is expected to start by October 1, 2004, pending contract award approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Service Administration. Completion of the building is targeted for fall 2005 and the project is expected to provide an estimate of 50 to 70 construction jobs. "This is a very exciting time for the people of Eastern West Virginia,” said Jay Bonfili, vice president for administration, WVU HSC Eastern Division. “The health care professionals we train in this facility will serve the region for decades to come." The Eastern Division provides community-based education in the health sciences, emphasizing family medicine, primary care and rural health. It is a cooperative effort with physicians, hospitals and other health care providers in the nine-county Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia – Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire, Mineral, Hardy, Grant, Pendleton and Tucker counties. Training is currently being offered to 30 students in the Eastern Division’s pharmacy and medical school programs. –WVU– Family Physician to Lead WVU Eastern Division MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – C.H. Mitch Jacques, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed dean of the Eastern Division of the West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center. “Mitch Jacques is a family physician who understands the need for West Virginia to educate its own young people for the health professions,” said John Prescott, M.D., dean of the WVU School of Medicine. “He has been a leader on both our Charleston and Morgantown campuses – and will provide the medical leadership we need in the Eastern Division to continue the progress that’s been made there.” “I’m thrilled and honored to become a part of WVU’s Eastern Division,” Dr. Jacques said. “It’s important for the University to serve all of the people of the state, and the development of our network of health care professionals in the Eastern Panhandle has made it possible for us to provide a far higher level of service there than ever before.” Jacques takes the post being vacated by Michael L. Friedland, M.D., who was recently appointed to lead the biomedical programs at Florida Atlantic University. James G. Arbogast, M.D., will be interim chair of the WVU Department of Family Medicine. WVU’s Eastern Division, headquartered in Martinsburg, provides community-based education in the health sciences in a nine-county region. Construction is expected to begin soon on an educational and office building in Martinsburg, funded in large part with a Federal grant obtained by U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd. The faculty includes a core of full-time WVU medical and pharmacy professors, based in Martinsburg and at the Harper’s Ferry Family Medicine Center, and a large number of community physicians and other health providers who welcome students into their practices for clinical education. “Our mission is to improve the health of the people in the entire region, from Pendleton and Tucker counties in the mountains to the eastern tip of Jefferson County,” Jacques said. “By establishing and developing educational and health care partnerships throughout the region, we strengthen rural communities, we expand educational opportunities, and we protect the health of individuals.” Robert M. D’Alessandri, M.D., WVU’s vice president for health sciences, said Jacques is no stranger to most of the Eastern Panhandle medical community. “Dr. Jacques has been an active member of the West Virginia Academy of Family Physicians for more than a decade, and is well-known in the medical community as a leader and an educator. We will miss his daily presence on this campus – but we’re very excited about what he can do for our students and the communities in the Eastern Division.” Jacques joined the WVU faculty in 1993 as chair of the Department of Family Medicine, Charleston Division. In 1996, he was named chair of the family medicine faculty in Morgantown. In that post, he developed the department’s modern Clark K. Sleeth Family Medicine Center, which welcomes hundreds of patients each day. He was born in Hagerstown. Maryland, just across the Potomac River from the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, and graduated from Virginia Tech. He is married to Shirley Padgett Jacques, and they have three adult children. For more information about the Eastern Division, please see: www.hsc.wvu.edu/eastern/ . –WVU–
Dean of WVU Health Sciences Eastern Division Resigns MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Robert D'Alessandri, M.D., vice president for health sciences at West Virginia University, announced today that he had accepted with regret the resignation of Michael Friedland, M.D., from his post as dean of the Eastern Division of the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center. Dr. Friedland will assume the position of senior associate dean for biomedical programs and professor of biomedical sciences at Florida Atlantic University, effective at the start of the fall semester. "We will miss, and our students will miss, the leadership that has been provided by Dr. Friedland during his tenure as dean of the Eastern Division," said Dr. D'Alessandri. "He has guided us through one of the most challenging times any school faces - the establishment of a new campus and educational program." The Eastern Division provides community-based education in the health sciences emphasizing family medicine, primary care, and rural health. It is a cooperative effort with physicians, hospitals and other health care providers in the nine-county, Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia -- Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire, Mineral, Hardy, Grant, Pendleton, and Tucker counties. A new educational building, made possible with funds secured by Senator Robert C. Byrd and by the West Virginia Legislature, will soon be constructed adjacent to City Hospital in Martinsburg. "Dr. Friedland played a central role in designing and promoting that building," D'Alessandri said. "Thanks to the support of Senator Byrd, the students and faculty who work and study there for generations to come will enjoy the results of Dr. Friedland's planning." A search committee for a new Eastern Division dean has been established, and will be led by John Prescott, M.D., dean of the WVU School of Medicine. -WVU-
Eastern Division Names Rural Family Medicine Scholars MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – Three medical students from the West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center Eastern Division have been named Rural Family Medicine Scholars, announced Konrad C. Nau, M.D., vice chair and program director for the WVU Rural Family Medicine Residency Program. The recipients, all in their third year of medical school, are: WVU School of Medicine students Johanna Biola, of Elkins; Tim Devine, of Kearneysville; and West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine student Diana Bearse, of Hedgesville. The Rural Scholar Program is an accelerated family medicine specialty program that seeks to attract the best medical students to rural family practice by offering financial incentives and an innovative integration of medical school and residency education. The recipients will receive a rural scholar’s stipend of $10,000 during their fourth year of medical school, and will participate in a rigorous curriculum that will include special continuity clinics and community medicine experiences. The Rural Scholars will continue their post-graduate specialty training at the WVU Rural Family Medicine Residency Program, where they will receive advanced leadership and medical procedure training in their final year of residency. These Rural Scholars will be able to begin their professional careers with significantly reduced medical school debt as a result of the stipend, which is funded from Gateway Foundation and WVU Foundation sources. “The objective of the Rural Scholar program is to reward and nurture our medical students’ interest in rural Family Medicine directly into our local residency program,” said Dr Nau. “Students who are involved in West Virginia residency training are much more likely to choose West Virginia sites for practice after residency, and we are proud to welcome these outstanding students into our Rural Scholars Program.” The WVU School of Medicine will host a Student Awards Convocation to honor the medical students at 5p.m. on Friday, April 30, through Mountaineer Doctors’ Television (MDTV) at Harpers Ferry Family Medicine Center. --WVU—
Students to Tour Local Medical Facilities MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – The WVU Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center Eastern Division will welcome 30 first-year medical students from WVU and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine to tour the area’s medical facilities March 12. The tour is designed to introduce the students to the Eastern Panhandle medical community so that they can make an informed choice on where they will spend their third and fourth years of medical school. “We are very excited to host the first year medical students and have the opportunity to highlight our community campus and show the students what the Eastern Division can offer for their medical education,” said Jane Horst, director for the Office of Student Services. After completing their second year of basic science courses at their institution, ten of the students will relocate to the Eastern Panhandle to begin their clinical education in the fall of 2006. They will learn clinical skills directly from community health care professionals. Eastern Division administrators, faculty and local physicians will lead tours through City Hospital, Jefferson Memorial Hospital and the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center.
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