Co-Editor of “Global Health and Medicine”

Dr. Melanie A. Fisher is a professor of Medicine in the Section of Infectious Diseases. Her interests include emerging infections, all aspects of patient care in infectious diseases, and public health. Dr. Fisher is also committed to medical education of students, residents and fellows. She is currently the co-clerkship director of the third year medical student Internal Medicine Clerkship at the Morgantown campus.

As the director of the International Health Program at the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, Dr. Fisher provides educational opportunities for students in global health, including a new International Track for students. She is also the director of WVU’s annual accredited course “Clinical Tropical Medicine and Parasitology.” She is the co-editor of a new book just published by McGraw Hill entitled “Understanding Global Health and Medicine” (Principal Editor William Markle, MD, Co-Editor Raymond Smego, MD).

Winner of the WVU Foundation Award for Outstanding Teachers

Dr. Stanley Zaslau serves as the residency program director of the Urology Residency Training Program at WVU. He is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He comes from a family of outstanding educators as both of his parents, David and Anne Zaslau, have received teaching awards in the fields of biology and health education, respectively.

When he accepted his faculty position at WVU in 2001, the Urology Residency Program was in danger of losing accreditation. He immediately began to revamp the residency program and completely redesigned its curriculum. Because of his efforts, the residency program became fully re-accredited by the ACGME for three years in each of the last two accreditation cycles in 2001 and 2005.

His students describe him best as a “gifted teacher with a passion for education”, a “role model with professional qualities”, an “inspiration to all who have the privilege of working with him”, “he looks out for the best interests of his residents and makes any sacrifice for the sake of their education”, and “he is a man of great integrity, with a devotion to his patients, coworkers, and students that is unparalleled”.

Winner of the Fulbright Senior Specialist Award

As a recipient of the Fulbright Senior Specialist Award, Dr. Swisher will be traveling to Australia this summer to exchange information with colleagues based on her work with children with cystic fibrosis. Dr. Swisher is the second WVU School of Medicine faculty member in the last two years to receive this award.

In addition to Dr. Swisher’s work with cystic fibrosis, she is also the coordinator of Graduate and Distance Education for Physical Therapy. Physical Therapy recently added a new distance learning program for practicing clinicians that have an entry level masters and would like to receive the doctoral physical therapy degree.

Vice President of the Medical School Class of 2008 & President of Alpha Omega Alpha

Jeff Mullins was born in Morgantown, West Virginia. His father is a member of the WVU Medical School Class of 1982 and is a practicing Urologist.

Jeff is very involved in medical school activities including serving as an OSR representative, the Vice President of the Class of 2008, and the President of Alpha Omega Alpha. In addition to holding these prestigious positions, Jeff was also able to score in the 99th percentile on his Surgery Clerkship exam.

In the near future, Jeff will be applying to residency programs, where, like his father, he would like to study urology.

Professional Surfer Opts to Ride the Mountains of West Virginia

Jessica Oswald is a professional surfer from Hawaii, but she wanted to study rural medicine. So she did what most young adults do today, an internet search to find the top schools with rural medicine programs. After her extensive search, Jessica decided to pursue a Masters degree in Public Health at WVU.

After graduation Jessica would like to attend medical school and study rural medicine.