WVUhealth
Fall 2010
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center • West Virginia University
Throughout the 1950s a penny-per-bottle tax on soda pop covered the cost of building a new Medical Center at WVU. The “pop tax� continues to be an important element in funding the operations of the Center.
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Contents
wvuhealth Fall 2010 Vol. 1, Issue 2
A publication of the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center West Virginia University Morgantown, West Virginia www.hsc.wvu.edu Administration James P. Clements, PhD President, West Virginia University Christopher C. Colenda, MD, MPH Chancellor for Health Sciences Arthur Ross, MD, MBA Dean, School of Medicine Georgia L. Narsavage, PhD Dean, School of Nursing Patricia A. Chase, PhD Dean, School of Pharmacy
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Insert 2
Senator Robert C. Byrd | In Memoriam
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Chancellor’s Message | Looking Ahead
Louise T. Veselicky, DDS, MSD Interim Dean, School of Dentistry Judie Charlton, MD Interim Chief Medical Officer WVU Healthcare Bruce McClymonds President and CEO, WVU Hospitals J. Thomas Jones President and CEO, WV United Health System Editorial Board Bill Case, Editor Heidi Specht, Creative Director Mary Dillon, Production Manager Autumn Hill, Designer Stephanie Bock Jay Coughlin Norman Ferrari, MD Amy Johns Misti Michael Gary Murdock Amy Newton Lynda B. Nine Tricia Petty Julia W. Phalunas Shelia Price, DDS Contributors Jeff Driggs Kim Fetty Angela Jones Michelle Moore Bob Beverly Aira Burkhart Lori Savitch Dale Sparks Dale Witte
© 2010 West Virginia University West Virginia University is governed by the West Virginia University Board of Governors and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. West Virginia University is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Institution.
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Cover Story 4 Center Insert
A Promise Made – A Promise Kept
WVU School of Medicine
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Playtime for the Mountaineers
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WVU Brain Pioneers
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Caring for Children . . . and Families
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“I Love Nursing” An Interview with Diana Mason
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Starting Small, Achieving Much
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Experience is the Best Teacher
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Ranger Recruit
In Memoriam
U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Robert C. Byrd was a youthful member of the West Virginia State Senate in 1951 when the bill to establish the state’s first four-year medical school, along with schools of dentistry and nursing, came up for a vote. He voted yes. Since then, at many key junctures in the history of the health sciences program at WVU, he played a part. When Ruby Memorial Hospital was built in the 1980s, the Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center was named in the memory of one of the Senator’s grandsons, who died in an auto accident.
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Bryd also steered funds to WVU for the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center and spoke at its dedication in 1990. A bust of Senator Byrd watches over the patient entrance. Byrd secured several other large appropriations for the Health Sciences Center, including funding the state’s first PET scanner, complete with an accelerator for the production of radioisotopes, and a pioneering early telemedicine system that criss-crossed the state. Other projects that benefited from the Senator’s work include the Eastern Division campus in Martinsburg; the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute; the Robert C.
Byrd Clinical Teaching Center in Charleston; the Morgantown HSC Library and learning center; the Erma Byrd Biomedical Research Center; and a medical simulation training center used by all of the health programs at WVU. In 1993, in honor of what already seemed a lifetime’s worth of service to the University, the state, and the nation, WVU renamed the Health Sciences Center for Senator Robert C. Byrd. This past summer —almost a generation later—Senator Byrd died, still in office, respected and admired by his colleagues in the Senate and in the state, and working to the end to support education and healthcare in West Virginia.
Chancellor’s Message | Looking Ahead
As we celebrate 50 years of service, West Virginia University health sciences graduates are at work in every corner of the state as physicians, dentists, nurses, and pharmacists, and in a dozen other health professions. Advanced medical care is now available without having to travel out of West Virginia; in fact, hundreds of patients travel from other states and countries to seek care from WVU physicians and surgeons. This issue of WVUHealth magazine reviews some of the achievements of the past 50 years and our work today. At WVU, we’re putting new resources into research that looks at the health of entire populations and can help identify public and individual actions that can result in better health outcomes for large numbers of people. We’re working together with hospitals, public agencies, and other universities and schools to create a statewide
network aimed at translating academic science into effective action at the community level. And we are stepping up our efforts to recruit and retain primary care providers in every health profession. Some important goals remain ahead of us. The health of the people of West Virginia, while far advanced from 50 or even 20 years ago, remains a challenge for us all. WVU is strengthened in all our work by the tremendous foundation that people across West Virginia provide us: they support us with their tax dollars, they send their children here to be educated, and they entrust us with their healthcare. We are ready for the challenges ahead. Christopher C. Colenda, MD, MPH Chancellor for Health Sciences West Virginia University
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A Promise Made –
A Promise Kept T
he August 22, 1960 issue of TIME magazine included Harry Truman’s announcement that he planned to vote for John Kennedy in the upcoming presidential race; a photo of Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis Jr. from their new movie, Ocean’s 11; and a short report about Madge Lawson, a 72-year-old woman from Buckhannon, West Virginia, with varicose veins.
Lawson was chosen by her doctor, State Medical Association President Jacob Huffman, to be the first to enjoy the care available at the shiny new University Hospital on a grassy hilltop in Morgantown. Her arrival marked the completion of an effort that
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had engaged nearly every citizen of the state over the course of a decade—and signaled a turning point for West Virginia University. Future patients would not be greeted with popping flashbulbs and flowers, and their names were unlikely to turn up in the pages of national magazines. But from that day forward, people in West Virginia began to look toward WVU not just for education (and football), but as the state’s center for healthcare. It was a promise made in 1951. The completion of the medical complex in 1960 was the beginning step in keeping the promise. For 50 years, succeeding generations of students, faculty, and staff have been delivering on it. Their work continues.
The power of the penny Well into the 20th century, West Virginia was a state with too few healthcare professionals for its population and meager means to educate or attract more of them. If you lived in a city, a coal town, or close to big lumbering operations, you had at least some access to a physician and maybe a hospital. If you lived in a
had to leave West Virginia to complete an MD degree, and not all returned to practice. WVU also had a School of Pharmacy, but throughout much of West Virginia the shortage of pharmacists, dentists, nurses, and other health professionals paralleled the shortage of physicians. At midcentury, West Virginia took a long, hard look at its healthcare and decided it was time for a big change. In 1951 Governor Okey Patteson selected Morgantown over other cities as the location for a major new medical center.
West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries
rural region without industry, your odds of finding professional healthcare were not even that good. Usually you paid upon delivery of services, unless you were one of the miners who had his paycheck nicked to cover healthcare. This primitive form of health insurance excluded some key services, including obstetrics, which may be one reason infant mortality was so tragically high in West Virginia. For many years, WVU operated a two-year medical education program. Graduates
To fund construction, a one penny per bottle tax was attached to soft drinks. Throughout the 1950s, Pop Tax pennies accumulated—they would have numbered almost three billion if actual coins had been dropping into a vast piggy bank.
pillars that held marble carvings commemorating highlights in medical history, starting with Hippocrates. For decades these four Pylons stood outside the center’s entrance. And while they haven’t budged an inch, today they stand indoors, the original building having recently grown to encompass them into its modern Learning Center.
When the center opened, the facility— West Virginia’s largest building—was already paid for. A four-story academic wing was home for classroom education and research. A 10-story tower served as University Hospital until 1988, when a free-standing hospital, Ruby Memorial, opened next door. Approaching the academic wing, you walked through a group of tall granite
Timeline 1960-2010 1960s 1960
1961
1962
1966
Medical Center completed, University Hospital opens
23 students in first School of Dentistry class earn degrees
Dr. Herbert Warden performs state’s first openheart surgery
WVU awards first BS in Pharmacy degrees
School of Nursing welcomes first students
14 men, one woman earn first MD degrees
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A bright beginning “I remember how excited we were to be studying at the new Medical Center,” said Norma Hammons of Charleston, who was in the School of Pharmacy’s Class of 1960. “We were able to bond with the medical and dental students and made lasting contacts with them. We all appreciated each other.” Putting four professional schools under one roof—sharing facilities and strengthening one another—was an innovation in 1960. Female students were under special rules. “We had to be back to the dorm by specific times each night,” recalls Hammon’s classmate, Barbara Oakeson. “There could be random room inspections at any time. The most objectionable dress code rule was if we wore Bermuda shorts, they had to be covered with a raincoat if we were going outside the dorm around campus.”
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But Susan Watkins, a member of the first School of Nursing class, said most people didn’t worry about the restrictions. They just felt privileged to be in college. “It was very challenging, and I would say fun, to be in that first class because no one had gone before you,” she said. “And many of the faculty were really interesting women in themselves. They brought a lot of different experiences to our classes.”
Hammons went on to a career as a community and hospital pharmacist, working in Morgantown, Cleveland, and Charleston. Oakeson also started working professionally in West Virginia, then worked at pharmacies in Indiana and a Native American health center in Arizona. “I feel fortunate to have chosen a career where I really looked forward to going to work,” she said. Watkins focused her nursing career on primary care and women’s health issues throughout West Virginia.
First heart surgery
It could be said that Herbert Warden, MD, (photo above, fourth from left, rear) is the father of heart surgery at WVU. He was part of the team that performed the world’s first open heart surgery in Minnesota in the 1950s. A few years later, he was one of a contingent of doctors and hospital administrators who were recruited to Morgantown to help get the enterprise off to a fast start. There were so many that some joked about the “University of Minnesota East.” Warden established the Section of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at WVU in 1960 and performed the state’s first open heart surgery on March 13, 1962. That same year, he also performed the state’s first pacemaker implantation. In those days, heart surgery involved the full opening of the chest and utilized an early
heart-lung machine that was partially assembled by hand. Today, heart care at WVU includes Dr. Warden’s son, Brad Warden, MD, an interventional cardiologist with the WVU Heart Institute and one member of a large team that provides the full spectrum of care to heart patients. Where heart care once involved multiple appointments at multiple locations, the new home of the Heart Institute streamlines care into a sort of one-stop shop for all things heart. Today’s care doesn’t have to begin with the cracking of the chest. With advanced imaging, physicians can get a 3-D view of a patient’s heart. Interventional cardiologists can open up arteries with stents, and heart surgeons can use minimally invasive techniques to bypass clogged arteries and repair and replace faulty valves.
1970s
1980s
1972
1977
1980
1984
Federal occupational safety lab, now called NIOSH, opens at WVU
Medical education building completed in Charleston
Charleston dental clinic opens
Hazel Ruby McQuain contributes $8 million to build a new hospital
Charleston Division is the first regional medical campus in the U.S.
Pharmacy program in Charleston begins
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A family tradition Evan Morgan, a 2009 graduate of WVU’s School of Medicine, grew up in Morgantown. The similarity of his name to the town’s is no coincidence. A distant ancestor settled the area and named it. His grandfather, David Z. Morgan, a retired physician and early medical faculty member, is among the University’s most honored alumni. Both of Evan’s parents, David M. Morgan and Claudia Goodwin, graduated from WVU’s medical school, as did his sister, Lauren Swager, who is on the WVU faculty in behavioral medicine and psychiatry. “As a community, and WVU is such a large part of the community, it’s special that we’re so interconnected: the town, the University, and my family,” says Evan. Morgan decided to follow his grandfather into internal medicine. He says the internal medicine department at WVU is “just above and beyond outstanding.”
From one hospital to many
Front row l - r: Evan Morgan, MD; D.Z. Morgan (also shown in photo to the left); back row, l - r: Claudia Goodwin, MD; David M. Morgan, MD; Lauren Swager, MD.
The original University Hospital, built in 1960, was operated by the University. In the 1970s, WVU opened a relationship with Charleston Area Medical Center in the state capital, and expanded health education to the Charleston Division. In 1984, the West Virginia Legislature authorized creation of a separate not-for-profit corporation, WVU Hospitals, which built Ruby Memorial Hospital, including WVU Children’s Hospital. Chestnut Ridge Center, a behavioral health facility, opened next door in 1987.
In 1996, WVU Hospitals joined the West Virginia United Health System. And in 2005, it absorbed City Hospital and Jefferson Memorial Hospital in the state’s Eastern Panhandle, operated together as WVUH-East, providing a teaching hospital for the expanding Eastern Division campus.
1980s 1985
1987
1988
1989
Health Careers Opportunities Program opens for minority and rural students
Chestnut Ridge Hospital (now Chestnut Ridge Center) opens
Ruby Memorial Hospital opens
WVU opens first subspecialty clinics in Eastern Panhandle
Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center begins HealthNet starts helicopter services in Charleston and Morgantown National Cancer Institute chooses WVU for Cancer Information Service 8 | WVUhealth
Saving babies In the early 1980s, West Virginia’s infant mortality rates were substantially above neighboring states. A team of doctors, nurses, and researchers from the WVU Department of Pediatrics started the West Virginia Birth Score Project. They enlisted the help of 30 hospitals and more than 600 doctors across the state to identify babies with high risk for developing illnesses early in life and made sure they had access to healthcare. The result was a sudden and sustained drop in the state’s numbers of infant deaths. The Birth Score Project has become a permanent part of the state’s health system, and every child born in West Virginia benefits from this screening.
Keeping healthcare in West Virginia By the 1990s, the academic programs established 30 years earlier were working smoothly and graduating a steady stream of health professionals. But many rural communities were not attracting new doctors and nurses. Bill Carlton, a professor in the Department of Community Medicine, developed a grant application to the Kellogg Foundation on behalf of WVU, Marshall, and the School of Osteopathic Medicine. “One of the primary objectives of this was to bring about change in the way health professions students were educated,” Carlton said. “And we wanted to move them from the campus out into the rural communities for a major part of their education.” Kellogg provided $6 million for rural healthcare education, and then-Governor Gaston Caperton pledged matching funds from the state. The initiative required that all health sciences students spend time working and learning in rural clinics and other community-based, primary-care facilities. The program evolved and expanded from the initial four sites to include all 55 counties in the state. A local advisory board in each host community offers input into the types of programs that students might participate in there. “Once we got it going, and once it was successful, the program branched into physical therapy, social work, and public health students,” Carlton said. With the passage of the 2010 healthcare reform bill, the program is facing some changes, says April Vestal, associate director of the West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships. The focus of the program will be directed more toward rural rotations for medical residents, financial incentives to help keep physicians in the state, and pipeline programs, which feed students into health professions education.
1990s 1990
1991
1992
1993
1995
Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center opens
Mountainview Regional Rehabilitation Hospital opens
Bone marrow transplant begins
Health Sciences Center renamed for U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd
WVU awards Doctor of Pharmacy degrees for the first time
Physician Office Center opens Ronald McDonald House opens
WVU starts statewide breast and cervical cancer screening program Rural Health Program begins
MDTV telemedicine sytem links faculty to rural hospitals and clinics
Harpers Ferry Family Medicine opens Health Sciences and Technology Academy begins Fall 2010 | 9
Making a little history In 2003, 37-year-old Dawna Jean Cooper of Paden City was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the suggestion of Dr. Jame Abraham at WVU’s Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, she decided to enroll in a 52-week clinical trial to test a new drug: Herceptin.
That kindness made Leary want to give something back to her community. In the research she’s been a part of here at WVU, she’s found a way to do that. Leary and others in the WVU Public Health program launched a pilot study to see if a class that taught problem-solving skills would help people to become more healthy and active. Strategies they discussed in her class included realizing that people can only control their own actions, no one else’s.
The Center was among the research facilities across the country participating in national studies on two new breast cancer drugs —Herceptin and Avastin—both of which were proven to improve the survival rate of patients with the disease.
“Some of them applied it to nutrition and physical activity,” Leary said. “Others started applying it to different issues in their lives. So, not only did they ‘get’ what we were trying to do, they were also able to take those skills and then translate them to other parts of their lives.”
“It was kind of ironic that just as the trial ended, the good news came,” Cooper said. “I was ecstatic. It was like a sign from God that I did the right thing. I was a little apprehensive when I started. Now I feel like a pioneer. I told Dr. Abraham that we had made a little history together.”
Giving back When Janie Leary, a doctoral candidate in WVU’s Public Health program, moved to Clarksburg from Atlanta in 2007, she was afraid that it might be difficult to make friends and form connections. But, she’s glad to say, that wasn’t the case. Leary and her husband were welcomed warmly into their new neighborhood. “The community as a whole had a sense of connectedness that I have not felt outside my family,” Leary said. “They extended that connectedness to us without hesitation. It was very comforting.”
1990s
By sharing the skills learned in the program and putting them to use in relationships in the home or across the street, people make their communities better for everyone living in them. “Simply being able to bring a program like this to the community that otherwise wouldn’t have been offered there was important to me,” Leary said. For her, it became a way to give back.
2000s
1996
1997
2000
2002
First WVU MD/PhD degree awarded
“Not on Tobacco” program starts at WVU; now used internationally
Sensory Neurosciences Research Center funded by NIH
Medical students begin studies at Eastern Division
1999
2001
WVU Hospitals joins WV United Health System Betty Puskar Breast Care Center opens
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Rosenbaum Family House opens
2004 WVU Eye Institute opens
WVU Cheat Lake Physicians opens
A Promise Kept
The promise has been fulfilled. Advanced medical care is now available without having to travel out of West Virginia; in fact, hundreds of patients travel from other states and countries to seek care from WVU physicians and surgeons. Today, in every county of West Virginia, students look to WVU as a place of opportunity and come here to begin careers of service. 2000s 2005
2007
2008
2010
WVU Hospital opens $75 million expansion
WVU Urgent Care opens
Bonnie’s Bus takes mammography to rural sites
WVU Heart Institute opens
WVU Sports Medicine Center opens
Erma Byrd Research building opens
City Hospital and Jefferson Memorial Hospital join WVUH 2006 Eastern Division opens classroom building in Martinsburg
Expanded library and learning center opens Robert C. Byrd Clinical Teaching Center opens in Charleston Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute building opens
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Our graduates care for the state’s citizens as their doctors, their dentists, their pharmacists, their nurses, and their therapists. Our researchers protect the state’s health and advance the boundaries of science. Our medical facilities, across the state, offer West Virginians access to the finest healthcare.
That would please Governor Patteson. At the groundbreaking ceremonies in 1952, he called this “a vitally needed project, which affected the lives of every West Virginia citizen, not only today, but in the years that lie ahead.” The decision to place the medical center at WVU, rather than competing locations, was thought to have cost him the chance for re-election, and by the time of the ground-breaking, he had only a few weeks left in office. But he wasn’t bitter. “I feel today like a proud father. I never thought that I would be so thrilled over the lifting of a shovel full of dirt.” The work begun so long ago continues. Our mission is the same: to improve the health of every West Virginian. a
This story was compiled by Bill Case, with contributions from Stephanie Bock, Jay Coughlin, Kim Fetty, Amy Johns, Angela Jones, Michelle Moore, Amy Newton, and Sherry Stoneking; and material from Generation of Growth, a School of Medicine history written in 1990 by Dolores Fleming, Jeanne Grimm, and Patricia Schuman; and from the “State Papers and Public Addresses of Gov. Okey L. Patteson.” 12 | WVUhealth
Playtime for the
Mountaineers by Amy Johns
WVU
football coach Bill Stewart encourages his players to really play. With kids. “It’s so neat to see some of those big guys with the coloring books,” he says. “They try to outdo each other.” For nearly 30 years, coaches and players have been visiting the children at WVU Children’s Hospital, forging friendships that can last for years.
That changed quickly. All the players wanted to go. It became a real love relationship with those kids.” All-American Brian Jozwiak says the experience changed his life. “College football players always talk about the fight to the finish,” Jozwiak said, “and here we were, face to face with little kids, some fighting the ultimate battle, one of survival.” Jozwiak’s annual celebrity golf tournaments have raised $225,000 for WVU Children’s Hospital since 1990.
In 1981, former Coach Don Nehlen noticed that the children had only a few toys. He dedicated the annual Stewart continues the tradition. He spring scrimmage—the Gold-Blue gets a kick out of seeing his players game—to supporting Children’s with the children. “Our players get a Hospital. It quickly became a family real enjoyment, deep down. It’s great affair and a team effort. Nehlen’s wife, to see that happen.” Marianne, took the family van to a toy “We appreciate the outstanding supstore and loaded it up. Their future port we’ve received from WVU Football son-in-law, quarterback Jeff Hostetler, throughout the years,” Cheryl Jones, along with other team members, began R.N., director of WVU Children’s visiting the children every week. Hospital, said. “The $700,000 we’ve “I took six to 10 players there on raised with the team’s help has made Fridays,” Nehlen said. “At first, some a difference for every child we care of the players thought they’d be for—and the visits by players brighten uncomfortable around the sick kids. everyone’s day.”
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WVU
Brain Pioneers by Amy Johns
“Until the doors of this institution opened, the state had relatively unsophisticated medical care compared to the rest of the country.” —Dr. Lud Gutmann
by Andrea Brunais
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“Morgantown, where?”
asked Robert Nugent, MD, when he was offered a job on WVU’s new medical campus 50 years ago. The former chair of neurosurgery is 89 years old, but his memory of the early days here is strong. “I made the leap [from Duke] because this looked like an opportunity with a growing program that was something we could develop over time….And it was a beautiful building; it met all our needs.”
were dedicated to patient care beyond everything else….We didn’t even have a billing system and we treated patients for a couple years without billing them.” As they watched the campus grow, both witnessed—and participated in— many advances in medicine. “We put air in people’s heads to image the brain. It was a very barbaric procedure and our patients were deathly ill after the procedure,” Gutmann says.
Dr. Nugent and former neurology chair Lud Gutmann, MD, 77, talked about how the new Health Sciences Center “We used to shine the light down into took shape. the hole you were working on in the brain trying to see what you were Dr. Gutmann arrived in Morgantown doing,” Nugent says. “It was primitive in the mid-’60s from the Mayo in a sense, but that’s what we had. But Clinic. “I thought this was an exciting now you have magnification, everything opportunity to come in early, to a is brilliantly visualized and you have a new medical school,” Gutmann says. whole system of micro-instruments. It “Until the doors of this institution has changed the success rate of many opened, the state had relatively procedures.” unsophisticated medical care compared to the rest of the country.” “As we look back now, the way medicine Many of their colleagues around the country were skeptical of their decision to practice here, but Nugent says that only fanned the flames. “All of us were so gung-ho to make this place go and to prove everyone wrong,” Nugent says. “We
was practiced in West Virginia and, actually in retrospect, the way we practiced neurology and neurosurgery, was pretty unsophisticated compared to now,” Gutmann says. “But I just have to believe that 30 years from now, 40 years from now, the way we practice today is going to look pretty unsophisticated too.” “Yeah - I’m glad I’m going to live another 50 years to see it!” Nugent replies.
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Caring for children . . . and families W
hen a child in West Virginia is diagnosed with cancer, a WVU pediatric cancer specialist is never far away. With children’s cancer programs at both the Morgantown and Charleston campuses, families have access to worldclass care—and leading clinical trials—without leaving the state.
“The same boy with less hair.” Dustin Moore’s eyes started to droop as his mom, Stacy Moore, and his grandmother, Christy Gill, talked with two WVU cancer specialists at CAMC Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Charleston. While they chatted about his future visits, chemotherapy, and hair loss, Dustin fell asleep in his mother’s lap. “That’s the difference from 20 or 30 years ago,” says Allen Chauvenet, MD, PhD. “When kids feel comfortable around their care team and the hospital, they can concentrate on being children, not on their disease.” Dustin’s cancer—a tumor on his brain—is under control, and his family says they’re grateful to have him tearing around the house again. “He plays hard, he laughs, and he never meets a stranger,” said Gill.
“He’s done really well,” added Moore. “What we have is the same boy with less hair.” The Moores live in Victor, an hour east of Charleston on winding U.S. 60. They brought Dustin to the pediatric oncologists at WVU’s Charleston Division after considering several out-of-state children’s cancer centers. “All of the main front-line treatments and protocols that are available at major children’s hospitals in the nation are available to our patients here at CAMC Women and Children’s,” says Dr. Elizabeth M. Kurczynski. Keeping the whole family involved is crucial to each child’s care, she adds. “Our biggest strengths here are our families and our team.”
Larry Perkins, son Ethan Perkins, Dr. Elizabeth M Kurczynski, Professor/Chairperson of Pediatrics, Dr. Allen Chauvenet, Professor of Pediatrics
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A Champion Child For 10 years, Eddie and Robin Bartlett of Richwood, Nicholas County, never suspected that their daughter, Danielle, had been living with a brain tumor since birth. The only indication that something was wrong was a constant thirst. Her family doctor referred her to WVU Children’s Hospital in Morgantown, where an MRI showed doctors the tumor. It was a nightmare come true for Robin. “When Danielle was little, we would watch the TV commercials with children with cancer, and I would be like, ‘Oh my God, Eddie. What would we do if that happened to Danielle?’” “She had something called a germinoma, which is fortunately treatable and curable in children,” said WVU cancer specialist Stephan Paul, MD. “I think she has a very good chance of having this tumor remain in remission, hopefully forever. She will have great things ahead of her.” Danielle’s treatment took a toll on the little girl. “When I was having chemo, I was sick a lot because the chemo made me sick,” she said. “We had to stay in the hospital. That wasn’t a very fun part.” She may not have been having fun. But her cheerful attitude inspired her doctors and nurses at WVU. They chose her to represent West Virginia in the Children’s Miracle Network’s Champions Across America program. Her year-long public appearance schedule rivals a movie star, including a grand public introduction, complete with fire trucks, at the Sam’s Club in Beckley; a visit to the White House and Capitol Hill; and the annual Children’s Miracle Network Celebration event at Walt Disney World Resort. Her parents are glad to have her represent the children treated at WVU Children’s Hospital. “I can’t imagine letting anyone else take care of her,” Robin said. “They did a wonderful job.” Dale Witte, Jeff Driggs, Lori Savitch, and Angela Jones contributed to this story.
Danielle was one of four children chosen to appear on boxes of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes.
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50%
of WV nurse practitioners are WVU graduates.
“I Love Nursing” S
ince 1986, the voice of nursing—on the New York City radio dial and in the world of academia—has been 1970 WVU graduate Diana Mason, RN, PhD.
“I love nursing!” she says. “I value this profession incredibly, and I get frustrated when others don’t understand the value of it.” Her live, weekly radio show, “Healthstyles,” educates the public—and health providers—about current health issues. “Most health professionals don’t understand public health education. That’s what the show is about. Education is one way to reduce health disparities among people.” Her strong feelings stem from early experiences on the WVU campus. “I feel very fortunate to have attended West Virginia University School of Nursing, and particularly being part of the beginning of this school of nursing. It was a very innovative curriculum at the time that really emphasized transitions of care. It’s something that our nation is focused on right now with healthcare reform—how to help people move from home to hospital and from hospital to nursing home.” Mason is a healthcare pioneer who leads nurses into new areas of work and research. One of her recent endeavors was to start the Center for Health Media and Policy at the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, part of the City University of New York (CUNY). She is also the Rudin Professor in the School of Nursing.
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by Kim Fetty
Earlier this year, she returned to Morgantown to accept an honorary doctor of science degree from WVU and serve as keynote speaker at the WVU School of Nursing’s graduation ceremony. “Diana is a wonderful role model for our nursing students and faculty,” says School of Nursing Dean Georgia Narsavage. “She has worked in areas that aren’t always associated with nursing and has been inducted into societies representing the highest levels of professional nursing. We are certainly proud to claim her as a WVU graduate.” Mason has expanded nursing into non-traditional areas most of her career. She has persuaded others in the healthcare field that nurses are vital partners in the business of creating and maintaining the good health of Americans. For more than a decade, she was the editor of the American Journal of Nursing, the only nursing journal that’s ranked among the most influential journals in biology and medicine. Her award-winning textbook, Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, is used in nursing courses around the world and is in its fifth edition. “The WVU School of Nursing has had a tremendous impact on my life,” she says. “It prepared me in an excellent way for a career in nursing. It gave me a really strong grounding in community health…it also gave me a passion for nursing. I feel very fortunate to be an alumnus.”
“passion for nursing.” The WVU School of Nursing gave me a
—Diana Mason
Fall 2010 | 19
Starting small,
achieving The late Dr. Robert Biddington—who served as dean of dentistry and vice president for health sciences—tests a new dental chair, while Dr. Henry Bianco looks on.
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much
80%
of dentists in West Virginia are WVU graduates.
by Angela Jones
T
he West Virginia University School of Dentistry started with just four faculty members in July 1957. Assistant Professor of Dental Materials Jim Overberger was one of them. “We wanted to put out a clinically competent dentist for the citizens of the state of West Virginia,” he said. “And, I think in the early years of the school, we really accomplished that goal. No question about it.”
Dr. Overberger and his colleagues that summer—Dean J. Ben Robinson, Associate Dean Ted Randolph and Chair of Prosthodontics John Davis—scrambled to put together a program for the students who would arrive in September. On a late April afternoon this past spring, Overberger and a group of the early faculty members he helped recruit gathered in Morgantown to reminisce about those humble beginnings, the growing pains experienced along the way, and the milestones in the history of the School of Dentistry. They talked about how well-dressed the dental students were, the initial difficulties of running the dental clinic, the switch from two-handed to four-handed dentistry, pioneering the rural rotation, and incorporating the dental hygienists into the clinic.
Most came to Morgantown from other dental schools, where they taught classes of up to 100 students at a time. WVU’s new school put instructors in front of 30 or so students. “When I heard that, I thought, ‘Great. We can teach instead of mass produce,’” said Henry Bianco, who joined the faculty from the University of Maryland in 1967. “And I found that the students at the dental school were just great. They were really eager to learn. If you fed them the information, they took it and ran with it.” Bob Sausen, who came in 1958 from the University of Minnesota, added, “It was a pleasure to work with small classes again. The first class when I came here was only about two dozen. I think all the faculty who came here tended to teach them everything we knew, which was probably too much for those students to take. We were so proud of those students. They took everything we gave them and developed themselves into skillful and competent dentists.” And that, Overberger said, was the goal from the start.
family,” he said. “Everyone knew everyone else personally.” Today, the class sizes are a little bigger and the number of faculty has grown, but the mission is still the same. “Our goal is to produce good all-around dental practitioners, who treat people in a fashion that’s professionally correct,” Puderbaugh said. “That’s what we try to do.” Puderbaugh’s daughter, Dr. Monica Puderbaugh Chapman, followed him into the WVU School of Dentistry. A 2006 graduate of the School, she married classmate Josh Chapman, a native of Barboursville, and together they own a practice in the Charleston area. “I think WVU has a very strong program with great faculty, who truly care about what’s best for their students,” she said. “I am a huge advocate for the WVU School of Dentistry. I’ve had multiple prospective students shadow me, and they always say how excited they are about dental school when they leave. I guess it’s because I liked it so much.”
Dave Puderbaugh, DDS, now a professor of restorative dentistry at WVU, was one of the 16 members of the Class of 1964. “In those days, the School was like a little
Fall 2010 | 21
Experience is the
Best Teacher by Amy Newton
22 | WVUhealth
70%
“I am
of pharmacists in West Virginia are WVU graduates.
in my early 20s and perceive myself as healthy,” says
WVU student Bess Lawther of Moundsville. But a closer look at her health, as part of an intense program for first-year students in the School of Pharmacy, was a wake-up call. “My lifestyle choices could be putting me at risk for chronic medical conditions in the future. Being aware of my current health status, in areas both
change.”
good and bad, has opened my eyes to things I need to
That’s exactly the response WVU School of Pharmacy Dean Patricia Chase hoped for when she started the My First Patient program. Her inspiration for the My First Patient program was a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” “The role of a pharmacist has changed,” said Chase. “While we still dispense medications and counsel patients, we are also an important part of a patient’s health care team. To help their patients manage their health, students must first learn to take responsibility for managing their own health.” The first-year students undergo a full health screening, then, after being counseled on the test results by thirdyear students, they complete a self-assessment of their health behaviors—both healthy and unhealthy behaviors. Each commits to a health behavior goal and creates action plans to identify steps to improve or maintain their personal health.
The program instructs first-year pharmacy students in the areas of health promotion, disease prevention, and health behavior modification by becoming their own first patient. The third-year students have the opportunity to gain more experience performing health tests and screenings, as well as counseling patients on test results. “The My First Patient program is intended to influence the mindset of students in how they will assess and counsel a patient on their healthcare needs,” said Diana Vinh, PharmD, who leads the program. “When the students can relate to what their patients experience, and personally understand the challenges of behavior change, they can better empathize and work to empower patients to manage their health.” “Changing behavior was difficult,” said student Shan Chen of Philippi, shortly after completing the first-year program. “As a future pharmacist, I learned that showing empathy to your patient when they need your help can make a difference.”
Fall 2010 | 233
Ranger Recruit
by Bill Case
Collaboration in the military brings a student to WVU
Dr. George Bal, left, and medical student Merwin Severtson In 2002, 25-year-old Army medic Merwin Severtson was assigned to work with Dr. George Bal, who was in charge of orthopaedic care for the 15,000 soldiers in the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, NC. “It was a very busy place, and it was a struggle to keep up,” recalls Bal, now a faculty surgeon at WVU. “He came in with no training whatsoever, but he was a fast learner. In a couple of months he was assisting in the OR. He’d take things home to study at night. By the end of the year, he was doing things a medical resident would do in a civilian hospital.” Throughout his career in the Army Rangers, Severtson looked back on his time with Bal as a pivotal experience. “It was the best thing that could happen to me at the time. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and the opportunity to work at that level gave me exposure to the medical profession I had never experienced.” The medic put that experience to good use through seven deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, where he treated patients on the battlefield and in military clinics, parachuted into a combat zone, and won a promotion that put him in charge of the health of 200 soldiers. Eventually, the Army transferred him back to Fort Bragg, where he spent three years training Special Operations medics.
24 | WVUhealth
The stateside assignment gave him time to complete coursework to prepare for medical school. And when he needed a letter of recommendation, he looked up Dr. Bal. Seven years after they last worked together, Bal had no hesitation about writing the letter. “I was really impressed with what he had done,” he said. He also invited him to visit Morgantown and apply to WVU. Severtson was accepted at several schools, but Bal’s friendship, the beauty of the Morgantown area, and the things he heard from other WVU faculty and students convinced him to become a Mountaineer. Moving directly from the military into university life “is an extreme change in culture,” he said, a few weeks into his first semester. “The work is a challenge and the tempo is even faster than I anticipated. But I like a challenge. I would never give up the opportunity to be in medicine.”
Health Sciences Students, Fall 2010 Including undergraduate, professional and graduate programs School of Dentistry: 222 Dental Hygiene: 87 School of Nursing: 946 School of Pharmacy: 388 School of Medicine: 432 Exercise Physiology: 747 Medical Laboratory Science: 73 Occupational Therapy: 129 Physical Therapy: 101
PO Box 9083 Morgantown, WV 26506 School of Dentistry School of Medicine School of Nursing School of Pharmacy WVU Healthcare University Health Associates West Virginia University Hospitals Member, West Virginia United Health System University Physicians of Charleston
The health professions schools, hospitals, medical practices, and research laboratories associated with West Virginia University are the largest forces for health in the state. This issue of WVUhealth focuses on our 50-year history of service to West Virginia.
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