HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Robert C. Byrd Center for Rural Health at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine recently awarded two new rural research grants to four resident physicians.

• A $25,000 grant was awarded to pediatric residents Joshua Hall, M.D., and Krista Putty, M.D. for the “Utilization of tele-education to improve emergency treatment of students with asthma and food allergies in rural West Virginia schools.” Their faculty mentor for this project is allergist and immunologist Meagan W. Shepherd, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics.
  
  
• A $12,950 grant was awarded to psychiatry resident Mark Peterson, M.D., and Lee Mendenhall, M.D., for “Making Connections:  Determining a Relationship Between Literacy and Rural Substance User Disorder Recovery.” Their faculty mentor is Ashley Zawodniak, D.O., assistant professor of medicine.

The Center for Rural Health supports focused research projects that study and identify ways to improve health outcomes and the quality of health care delivery in rural communities. The projects should work toward developing self-sustaining, effective programs in rural West Virginia that can serve as models for other rural health care organizations.

Funding for the rural research grants is through the school of medicine’s Rural Health Initiative Grant from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.

For more information about the Center for Rural Health and rural research areas of focus, please visit crh.marshall.edu.

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Date Posted: Friday, May 15, 2020