About Us
The Department of Community Medicine consists of many programs, research centers, etc. working together to form a whole.
The West Virginia Prevention Research Center (WV PRC) is one of 35 Prevention Research Centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These PRCs are housed in universities across the country and share a focus on public health in community settings. Our research focuses on examining the underlying behaviors and social conditions related to tobacco use, sedentary lifestyle, and poor nutrition. We strive to reduce health disparities related to race/ethnicity, geography, and socioeconomic status in West Virginia. Our aims are to:
- Expand community engagement in and support for community-based participatory research (CBPR)
- Foster, conduct, and translate innovative community-driven prevention research and evaluation
- Provide training to enrich the public health workforce
- Provide leadership and guidance in applied evidence-based public health policy and practice
- Maintain and expand WV PRC infrastructure and resources.
The Institute for Occupational and Environmental Health provides comprehensive services in occupational and environmental medicine. Occupational Patient Cares emphasize occupational illness, injury initial evaluation/consultation, and worker surveillance to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to protect workers from acute and chronic workplace exposures. Environmental services include maternal-child health, environmental health consultations with the WV Bureau for Public Health, and state and national initiatives in environmental health. In addition, the Institute provides support for the Workers' Compensation Division of the WV Bureau of Employment Programs through research, consultation, and management services.
The mission of the WVU Office for Public Health Practice is to bridge the gap between medicine and public health by identifying community-based learning opportunities which can serve as classrooms for a new generation of health science professionals.
The ultimate goal is to nurture and strengthen opportunities that will help practitioners become competent in providing both individual patient care and population-based health care.
The Center on Aging acknowledges the challenges and opportunities associated with aging in rural Appalachia. The Center initiates, facilitates, and disseminates programs committed to:
- promoting quality of life in later years
- providing education, consultation, and service to communities throughout West Virginia
- sustaining independence and creative potential across the life span; and
- making policy recommendations for healthy aging in rural areas.
The Center conducts multidisciplinary gerontology-based policy research and maintains an international focus through student exchanges, international conferences, and networking groups aimed at establishing cross-cultural policy research and instructional projects.
The West Virginia University Biostatistics Consulting Group (BCG) provides biostatistical expertise to the WVU Health Sciences Center and beyond. Our mission is to promote valid and efficient science through the assurance of sound study design as well as the use of appropriate statistical techniques for data analysis. Our goal is to establish and maintain interactive relationships with health researchers here at WVU, originating in the study design phase and progressing through the reporting of results.
The West Virginia Rural Health Research Center conducts policy-relevant research on environmental health in rural populations, with an emphasis on the health impacts of human-made environmental risks, and on health care that is responsive to local environmental issues. The Center also pursues topics related to social and economic health disparities.
The Office of Health Services Research (OHSR) has an eighteen-year history of involvement in health-related research activities. OHSR's primary goal is to facilitate improvement in the health and health care of West Virginians by providing applied research, planning and resource development, analytical data management, and other consultative services for health and related agencies throughout the State.
Alcohol Awareness Site: How much do you know about the effects of alcohol? The Community Health Promotion Program has developed this educational site to prevent alcohol abuse and to educate the public about alcoholism, treatment, and offers lesson plans for K-12. Take the quiz, too!