Women's Health

WVU Named 'Center of Excellence in Women's Health'

Morgantown, W.V. - West Virginia University has been designated as a "National Center of Excellence in Women's Health," the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced.

As a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health, WVU will serve as model academic health center that provides integrated and comprehensive women's health services - integrating the five core components of clinical care, research, medical education, community outreach and faculty development.

"This is a great day for the women of West Virginia," said Barbara Ducatman, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Pathology and director of the WVU Center of Excellence in Women's Health. "West Virginia ranks near the bottom of all states and District of Columbia for many health care indicators in women. For 2004, we rank 50th of 51 for obesity, 49th for diabetes, 50th for smoking with a concomitant lung cancer rank of 49th, and 50th for dental visits. With today's award and our designation as a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health we can start to change these statistics."

The designation comes with an award of $150,000 - part of an overall $2.86 million in awards for transformation of the National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health. The three new Centers of Excellence - WVU, University of Missouri-Kansas City and University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio - along with six Centers of Excellence selected in 2003, will transform the program into one that increases emphasis on leadership; preventive programs in heart disease, diabetes/obesity, cancer, and HIV/AIDs; collaboration with other allied health schools, American Indian populations and rural areas.

The WVU Center of Excellence in Women's Health is a collaboration of all schools of the WVU Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center - the School of Medicine, School of Pharmacy, School of Nursing and School of Dentistry.

The Center of Excellence in Women's Health consists of a clinical care center located in the Physician Office Center that provides multidisciplinary, comprehensive one-stop shopping for a woman's health care needs. Also in the clinical care center are educational programs for health care providers, offering training in up-to-date care tailored to women's needs and preferences.

In addition to clinical care and educational outreach, the Center's research programs will link together many facets of research already being done at the Health Sciences Center on diseases of women and support new research endeavors.

"Our outreach programs will link the Center of Excellence to community health care providers and to the women of West Virginia. We plan to establish satellite clinical care centers in the near future," Ducatman said. "This is truly a university-wide initiative in that women from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the WVU Extension Service are also involved in our outreach activities."

Ducatman said the Center's leadership component will encourage the development of current female faculty at WVU to provide leadership for the next generation of health care providers commensurate with numbers in the health care professions.

"Since women play such an important part in the health care choices of their families, we hope to improve not only their health care, but ultimately that of all West Virginians."

Evaluations of the existing Centers of Excellence in Women's Health programs have found that the comprehensive, integrated approach to care strengthens the focus on women's health at academic medical centers and at community-based organizations. The centers also increased the number of women with a usual source of care and the evaluation showed a greater compliance with treatment regimes at the community centers. In addition, the centers provide a wide array of clinical, preventive services and produce high levels of patient satisfaction and loyalty.

For more information about the WVU Center of Excellence in Women's Health" visit www.hsc.wvu.edu/whce. More information on the National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health is available at www.4woman.gov/coe/index.htm and www.4woman.gov/owh/ccoe/index.htm.