Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
Since its inception in 1977, the Joan C.
Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall
University has been educating West Virginia’s
medical work force in patient care, biomedical
science studies, research and public service.
Most recently, the school has added a new
master’s degree in clinical and translational
science and a seven-year accelerated B.S.
to M.D. program, which was created to help
keep West Virginia’s brightest students in
the state for medical school. The leadership
is also preparing to launch a new vertically
integrated curriculum in July 2020 to reduce
redundancies, provide more clinical time and
increase elective opportunities for students in
research, rural medicine and specialized care.
million—the largest resource in the school’s
history. Under the leadership of Dean Joseph
Shapiro, M.D., the school has more than
tripled its federal and nonfederal grant
awards in the past three years and, in 2015,
established its own online medical journal,
Marshall Journal of Medicine.
The school’s faculty practice plan, Marshall
Health, continues to grow its number of
locations, which now includes 40 clinics in
14 counties, and patient visits, which have
increased 65 percent since 2013. Combined,
the school of medicine and Marshall Health
employ more than 1,800 people, making them
important economic drivers for the region.
A significant part of the school’s success
stems from its commitment to expanding its
reach through programs and partnerships
with other institutions and growing the
research branch of its dedication to education,
research and clinical care. Research funding
donated and/or granted to the school of
medicine now sits at approximately $43.7
initiatives related to addiction care, treat-
ment and research, including Project Hope
for Women & Children, an 18-unit resi-
dential treatment facility for women with
substance use disorder and their children,
and the Provider Response Organization for
Addiction Care & Treatment, or PROACT,
a hub for behavioral, social and medical
care related to addiction treatment.
“Thanks to the amazing efforts of so
many people, we’ve made real progress in
reversing the curse of opiate addiction,”
he says. “Although we still have a very
frightening problem, we are seeing sta-
tistical evidence that these efforts are
working, including decreases in overdoses,
overdose deaths and neonatal abstinence
syndrome.”
Shapiro also finds time to maintain his
own academic and research interests. He
currently leads a medical research team,
co-authors original research articles and
continues to see patients on a limited
basis, and he holds 16 patents on medical
inventions.
“I absolutely love being involved in
science,” he says. “Every so often, our work
lets us understand how things really work.
I truly feel that these insights, which don’t
happen all that often, are like seeing a
little piece of God’s plan.”
In April 2019, Shapiro became one of
only eight West Virginia physicians ever
to receive mastership in the American
College of Physicians (ACP), an elite honor
received only by 1 percent of all ACP
members in the world. He continues using
his talents and his commitment to the
Mountain State to work toward a brighter
future by educating a skilled medical
workforce, and he looks forward to many
more years of success in West Virginia.
“Coming to West Virginia has been
fabulous for me and my wife,” he says.
“We have been embraced by the commu-
nity and our colleagues at the university,
and my life and career have never been
as exciting as they are right now. I have
every hope that tomorrow will be even
better.”
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