Personnel

Rachel T. Abraham

Rachel T. Abraham MD, MPH is Director, Workforce Development and Extended Learning at the School of Public Health and Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences. Dr. Abraham developed and directs both of the programs; the Dual Degree MPH Programs (in collaboration with the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing and others); as well as the Public Health Grand Rounds. She is the Founding Director & Chair CME/CE Continuing Education Program, School of Public Health at the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center.

The Public Health Grand Rounds (PHGRs) is integral to the educational efforts of the Schools of Public Health, Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, as well as the MPH programs and continuing education for healthcare professionals.  Dr. Abraham was instrumental to develop and directs the Public Health Track  program for the West Virginia University School of Medicine.  In this program, public health is integrated into the medical school curriculum.

Dr. Abraham designed The WVU Office for Public Health Practice (WVU OPHP) based on the initial funding received from St. Joseph Health Initiative, Wheeling, WV.  The WVU OPHP is the home for the Dual Degree MPH programs as well as the CME/CE Continuing Education Programs at the School of Public Health, West Virginia University Health Sciences Center.

The mission of the WVU OPHP is, to bridge the gap between medicine and public health by identifying community-based learning opportunities that can serve as classrooms for a new generation of health science professionals based on the model detailed in the 2002 Institute of Medicine Report,  "Who Will Keep the Public Healthy."

Dr. Rachel Abraham was a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Bioterrorism Training and Curriculum Development Program (BTCDP), "West Virginia Prepares."  She has been active in working with the other project participants and has coordinated a cross-border public health preparedness conference with West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and,Ohio as well as working with a BTCDP spin-off project to raise awareness and preparations for caring for people with disabilities during mass evacuations.  Dr. Abraham has been instrumental in helping to develop programs and curricula for threat response. She has developed new on-line continuing education programs in threat preparedness as well as the course for the West Virginia University PhD in Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences program, "Emergency and Disaster Response”.

Rachel T. Abraham, a physician with a dedicated interest in rural underserved populations, received her Master of Public Health from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.  She then completed her fellowship in Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta. 

Dr. Abraham’s aim and aspiration is to improve population based health care with integration of public health in the various disciplines, to enhance inter-professional education and practice – and fulfill the goal to improve healthcare in West Virginia and beyond.