Rachel T. Abraham, MD, MPH

Teaches Occupational & Environmental Health Graduate Seminar; Emergency & Disaster Response; Outbreak Assessment; Environmental Health; Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Public Health Summer program for medical students; InterProfessional Education

Professor Emerita

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Public Health

Department:

Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences

Classification:

Faculty

• MPH, Emory University
• MBBS, University of Bangalore College of Medicine

Rachel T. Abraham is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences with a joint appointment in the Department of Medical Education in the School of Medicine.

Dr. Abraham developed the Public Health Grand Rounds (PHGRs) in 2004 which lasted for 10 years as a CME/CE continuing education program at the WVU School of Public Health. Dr. Abraham served as the Founding Director & Chair of the PHGRs CME/CE Continuing Education Program, School of Public Health.

Dr. Abraham also developed and serves as the Director of the HSC IPE Speaker Series at the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center. The HSC IPE Speaker Series is integral to the educational efforts of the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, as well as the MPH programs and continuing education for healthcare professionals.

Dr. Abraham developed the MPH Dual Degree programs (MD/MPH; DDS/MPH; MBA/MPH) for the schools of Medicine, Dentistry and the College of Business & Economics and was instrumental to develop the Public Health Track program for the West Virginia University School of Medicine. In this program, public health was integrated into the medical school curriculum.

Dr. Abraham designed the first WVU Office for Public Health Practice (WVU OPHP) in 2003 based on the initial funding received from St. Joseph Health Initiative, Wheeling, WV. The mission of the WVU OPHP was, 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 in the 21^st century."

In 2010 Abraham as the Principal investigator from the WVU Health Sciences Center in collaboration with the University of North Carolina School of Public Health was awarded  funding from HRSA for the Public Health Training Center grant which advanced the WVU OPHP to the WVU Office for Public Health Practice & Workforce Development (WVU OPHP & WFD).  Since 2003 to 2014 the WVU OPHP & WFD served as the home for the MPH Dual Degrees as well as the PHGRs CME/CE Continuing Education programs at the School of Public Health, West Virginia University Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Rachel Abraham was a member of the team that developed the MPH Program for West Virginia University School of Medicine in the mid-nineties.

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 population and public health, received her Master of Public Health from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She has also completed her fellowship in Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta.

As a Public Health physician, Dr. Abraham’s aim and aspiration is to improve population based health care with integration of public health and interprofessional education in the various disciplines, to enhance interprofessional education and practice – and fulfill the goal to improve healthcare in West Virginia and beyond.