Rachel T. Abraham, MD, MPH

Professor Emerita

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Public Health

Department:

Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences

Classification:

Faculty

• MPH, Emory University School of Medicine
• MD, University of Bangalore College of Medicine, Bangalore, India

Rachel T. Abraham, MD, MPH  is Professor Emerita at West Virginia University, has a joint appointment in the Department of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health, and at the School of Medicine in the Department of Medical Education.

Dr. Rachel Abraham is an Emory University graduate and a CDC trained Public Health physician, sub-specialist in Infectious diseases with special focus and interest in Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)  & Cervical Cancer. Dr. Abraham has extended her expertise to the rural counties of Lincoln, Logan, underserved areas of Cabell county, which have extensive increased rates of cervical  cancer.

Dr. Abraham developed the Public Health Grand Rounds (PHGRs) in 2004 which lasted for 10 years as a live streaming webcast of the Global CME/CE continuing education program at the WVU School of Medicine and which also continued on in the new School of Public Health at West Virginia University. Dr. Abraham served as the Founding Director & Chair of the Live streaming webcast with regionally, nationally and globally approved PHGRs CME/CE Continuing Education credits, from the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and general continuing education credits.

Dr. Abraham also developed and served as the Director of the WVU HSC Interprofessional Education (IPE) Speaker Series at the West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center (WVU HSC IPE). The HSC IPE Speaker Series was integral to the educational efforts of the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, as well as the MPH programs and as a continuing education program 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. There were numerous graduates from the MPH Dual Degree programs. The graduates of these MPH dual degree programs contributed significantly during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
• Dr. Abraham 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 also designed and developed 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 21st century."

In 2010, Dr. 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 Public Health Training Center grant which advanced the WVU OPHP to the WVU Office for Public Health Practice & Workforce Development (WVU OPHP & WFD). This WVU OPHP WFD contributed to laying the foundation of the HRSA Training Site to serve West Virginia at the WVU School of Public Health.  Since 2003 to 2014 the WVU OPHP & WFD served as the home for the MPH Dual Degrees, as well as the Regionally, Nationally & Globally approved PHGRs CME/CE Continuing Education programs at the School of Public Health, West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Rachel Abraham was a key member of the team that developed the MPH Program for West Virginia University School of Medicine in the early nineties. This new MPH Program has laid the foundation for this new current WVU SPH. The regionally, nationally, globally recognized PHGRs with continuing education credits of CME/CDE/CNE/CPH served as the required component for the Council of Education (CEPH) reaccreditation of the WVU MPH Program. This newly reacreddited MPH program also contributed to laying the foundation for the new WVU School of Public Health in 2012.

Dr. Rachel Abraham was a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Bioterrorism Training and Curriculum Development Program (BTCDP), "West Virginia Prepares."     She has also been active in working with the other project participants and has coordinated a successful and widely attended CME/CE Cross-border public health preparedness conference “Pandemic Influenza" with West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and, Ohio. She has also worked continually 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, was trained at Emory University School of Medicine/Rollins School of Public Health for her Master of Public Health degree, trained as a Public Health physician at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta with the fellowship in Preventive Medicine and Public Health.

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.