Monongalia County Health Department was recognized by West Virginia University as an academic health department, a designation that will increase internship, lecture and teaching opportunities between the two institutions.
A document formalizing this agreement was signed Oct. 31 by Dr. Lee B. Smith, MCHD executive director and county health officer; Dr. Clay Marsh, WVU’s vice president and executive dean for Health Sciences; Dr. Jeffrey Coben, dean of the WVU School of Public Health; and Samuel A. Chico III, chairman of the Monongalia County Board of Health.
“We are thrilled to have achieved this designation,” Smith said. “This is the fruition of four years’ work that began with building relationships with various colleges and schools.”
These include WVU School of Medicine, WVU School of Nursing, WVU School of Pharmacy, WVU School of Public Health and WVU College of Law.
“The reality is the vast majority of the scope of activities outlined in the signed agreement are already underway and have been for a while,” Coben said. “We are just codifying it more than anything else, moving it from being a common understanding to a formalized agreement, reflecting our commitment to continue working together to meet the needs of our community.”
For example, WVU School of Nursing and MCHD have a partnership that allows WVU clinical assistant professor Kendra Barker, a certified diabetes educator, to conduct a Diabetes Clinic at MCHD.
Also, the School of Public Health places two interns a semester at MCHD, including two graduate students during the summer.
“We’ve had interactions and lectures involving all these schools and departments as well as NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) and the state of West Virginia,” Smith said.
The Washington, D.C.-based Public Health Foundation compared relationships between universities and health departments with those between universities and teaching hospitals.
“The definition of an academic health department is an arrangement between a local health department and an academic institution that provides exchange, research, service and teaching,” Smith said. “In many ways, the health department is the practice and the schools are the theory. Therefore, we can provide opportunities for academics to translate theory into practice.”
In addition to opportunities for training and education involving all parties, Smith said, “it will also open doors for research and hopefully grant funding.”
