Universities Receive Research Funding

December 17, 2009

WHEELING - Money for research at local colleges is on its way to the Ohio Valley.

Wheeling Jesuit University's National Technology Transfer Center will receive $5 million to continue its HEALTHeWV program - an effort to develop and store electronic medical records for nonprofit clinics in West Virginia, U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., announced Wednesday.

The school also will get $1 million for continued operation of the NASA Classroom of the Future at Wheeling Jesuit.

Both grants were included in the fiscal 2010 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill. U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., chairs the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies in the U.S. House.

West Liberty University, meanwhile, will receive a $100,000 matching grant through West Virginia's "Bucks for Brains" program, Gov. Joe Manchin announced Wednesday.

The money will be used to pay students who assist their professors in doing biological and bio-chemistry research, according to Robert Kreisberg, dean of the WLU College of Sciences. Work will be done in the areas of cardiovascular, molecular modeling, pain response and physiological research, he said.

"The money should go a long way," Kreisberg said. "The students will have to apply for these jobs. It will not be free, open money."

West Virginia's $50 million Research Trust Fund, or "Bucks for Brains" program, authorized by the state Legislature in 2008, provides research dollars to West Virginia and Marshall universities to be matched by private donations.

In addition, the program benefits other state colleges and universities through matching grants made possible by the fund's interest account.

At Wheeling Jesuit, HEALTHeWV has been in operation for nearly three years, said Davitt McAteer, interim president.

Researchers there took what had been a military computer system and converted it to civilian use, he said. The result is a computerized medical records system that is both convenient and cost effective for nonprofit clinics in West Virginia, particularly those in rural areas.

There are 32 clinics that are participating in HEALTHeWV, and 333,700 patient encounters were entered into the computer system this past year, according to McAteer.

"Much of the cost associated with health care is the cost of paper and maintaining record rooms," he said.

The record system has a second advantage for the nonprofit clinics, he continued, in that a large main computer housed on the third floor at the NTTC building now backs up the medical files of clinics participating in HEALTHeWV.

Previously, the clinics had to update their systems every three years.

"They now don't have to buy the fanciest version of a computer," McAteer said. "We do that here on a regular basis to keep the system updated. The clinics just have to keep laptops and fiber optics up to speed. This is a tremendous advantage to clinics."

Medical education information also can be disseminated to clinics throughout West Virginia via the system, he noted.

- by JOSELYN KING Political Writer, as published at the Wheeling News-Register