Waddell honored as Outstanding Rural Health Provider

Waddell honored as Outstanding Rural Health Provider

WVSOM’s Mark Waddell, D.O., won the West Virginia Rural Health Association’s (WVRHA) 2023 Outstanding Rural Health Provider award. He received the award during a Nov. 16 luncheon at the 31 annual WVRHA conference at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, W.Va. The association’s provider award recognizes a direct service provider who has exhibited outstanding leadership in the improvement of health care services in rural areas of West Virginia.

WVSOM Class of 2024 student Jessica Brumbaugh nominated Waddell for the award and outlined his efforts in a letter to the WVRHA:

“Through his many academic roles he has inspired and taught hundreds of students across West Virginia. He has personally persuaded many medical students to remain in West Virginia to provide medical care and continue his legacy. … In everything he does, Dr. Waddell lives using the model of servant leadership, and his ultimate impact on the health care of West Virginia may never be fully known.”

While the award is presented by a West Virginia-based association, Brumbaugh’s letter noted that Waddell’s influence extends beyond the state.

“It is clear that Dr. Waddell has a passion for providing health care to the underserved in West Virginia, but a unique aspect of his work is his ability to see the bigger picture. Dr. Waddell has taken his leadership and experience in rural West Virginia to be a medical provider and leader in nine countries … in more than 27 international short-term mission trips across five continents,” Brumbaugh said.

Waddell, who joined WVSOM’s clinical sciences faculty in 2020, is the school’s global health coordinator and an associate professor. His work as a physician includes serving for 18 years as medical director for Braxton County Memorial Hospital’s emergency department. He practices at CAMC Greenbrier Valley Medical Center in Ronceverte, W.Va., where he is assistant director of the family medicine residency program, and at the Robert C. Byrd Clinic in Lewisburg, W.Va. Prior to receiving his D.O. degree from WVSOM in 1990, Waddell received a Bachelor of Science degree from Alderson Broaddus College in Philippi, W.Va., in business management and management information systems.

Waddell also has served as a WVSOM preceptor and advanced cardiac life support instructor. Additionally, he assists with the school’s wilderness medicine program. Waddell was named the WVSOM Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni of the Year for 2022.

He joins Carolyn Bridgett Morrison, D.O., in 2020, and Bob Foster, D.O., in 2019, as WVSOM faculty who previously won the WVRHA provider award.