Loss of a public health champion

It is with deep sorrow that the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center announces the passing of its founding Director, Dr. Michael E. Samuels.

Dr. Samuels, subsequent to service with the US Navy, had an outstanding public health career and a pronounced effect on rural health across the US. Early in his career with the US Department of Health and Human Services, he obtained the legislative authority and implemented the Health Underserved Rural Areas Research Program in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), predecessor to the current Office of Rural Health Policy. In recent years, Dr. Samuels received both the Distinguished Research Award (2002) and the Distinguished Educator Award (2010) of the National Rural Health Association, as well as the C. Everett Koop Medal of Appreciation from the Koop Institute (2005).

Dr. Samuels’ passion for social justice motivated a long career in public health administration and public health education. Throughout that time, he never stopped fighting for equitable health care for rural poor, underserved and minority populations. We honor his memory and are inspired further to continue his work.

Dr. Samuels' personal obituary is available at the Winston-Salem Journal.

Health Care Providers In Rural America

Our own Jan Probst appears, once again, in Health Affairs to rebut an article published in the Fall of 2013 regarding service utilization comparison across Urban and Rural medicare beneficiaries.  Give it a read!
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/33/2/346.1.extract?etoc

Congrats to Nathan Hale!

Have to brag slightly on one of our own, Dr. Nathan Hale.  Dr. Hale's paper, "Postpartum Screening for Diabetes among Medicaid-Eligible South Carolina Women with Gestational Diabetes," was chosen by the Board of the journal Women's Health Issues as winner of the annual Charles E. Gibbs Leadership Prize for the journal's best paper of 2012.  Prize and a plaque! 

For those who might want to view it, Dr. Hale's paper appeared in the March, 2012 issue of WHI, issue 2, Pages e163-e196.  Sorry, no free link.

Exciting times at ECU

It was wonderful to represent the SCRHRC at the ninth annual Jean Elaine Mills Health Symposium at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. The symposium honors the memory of Ms. Mills, a 1984 MPA graduate of ECU’s master of public administration / community health program who died of breast cancer in 2000.

ECU offers a sparkling new health sciences campus and Deans across multiple health fields – medicine, dentistry, nursing and allied health – who are each committed to 1] enhancing diversity in education and 2] reducing rural health disparities.  Wonderful folks doing wonderful work!

And ECU really did a terrific job of making the keynote speech, by one of our very own, available as video.  Folks who can stand an hour of Jan talking about rural health may also spot two one-time locals, Libby Baxley and Minnjuan Flournoy, in the audience.  

News summary (text) 

Video (about 1 hour)

 

Jan Probst receives USC’s MLK Social Justice award

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Dr. Jan Probst, Director of the SCRHRC, received the faculty 2012 Martin Luther King Day Social Justice Award on January 18, 2013.  The Social Justice Award is presented annually to a USC faculty member, a student and a staff member, each of whom have exemplified the philosophies of the late civil rights leader through random or ongoing acts of community service, social justice or racial reconciliation.  Dr. Probst’s continuing work in the field of rural minority health was noted during the award ceremony.  

Dr. Probst joins Dr Saundra Glover of the Center as a recipient of the USC’s MLK award.   Dr. Glover received the Social Justice award in 2010.

Dr. Saundra Glover receives Alpha Phi Alpha Distinguished Service Award

Congratulations to the SCRHRC's Associate Director, Dr. Saundra Glover!

At the Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Breakfast held by the Delta Zeta Lambda Chapter of Alphi Phi Alpha on January 12, Dr. Glover was one of three recipients  with the group's Distinguished Service award.  The award recognizes her contributions as Director of the Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities and Associate Director of the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center, which focuses on rural poor and minority populations. 

To see the full article, click here.

NRHA Multiracial and Multicultural Health Conference

Since the NRHA Multiracial and Multicultural Health Conference was held in nearby North Carolina, the SCRHRC sent a significant delegation:  faculty members Saundra Glover, Amy Martin, Kevin Bennett, Jessica Bellinger and Jan Probst, along with student John Stewart.  We presented on a range of topic relevant to rural multiracial and multicultural populations, including HIV and ESRD service availability, cervical cancer interventions, oral health practice issues, and distance to trauma care.

Lots of good networking with rural practitioners from all over.  Most impressive was the contingent, including two allied health students, who flew down from Barrow, Alaska.  [The visiting professor from Norway was interesting as well, but since she was already in the US visiting family....]  For those of us who stayed to the end, Don Warne's presentation on American Indian health was inspiring.