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WVU's Virtual
Medical Campus:
Providing Information
When Disaster Strikes
by Tim Terman
When disaster strikes, the availability of medical resources
is crucial to the survival of large numbers of people. Natural
disasters, like the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan,
and floods in North Carolina, create multiple health hazards.
Acts of terrorism—such as Sarin gas released in the Tokyo
subway and bombings of Moscow apartment houses—also require
rapid mobilization of health resources.
In the U.S., as in other countries, those resources—trained
personnel, medical supplies, and information about health threats
and treatments—are scattered among hundreds of public and
private agencies. There is no comprehensive national clearinghouse
for organizing a massive, immediate medical response. Agencies
such as the Department of Defense, the Federal Emergency Management
Administration, the National Guard, and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, among others, all need rapid access to
the best available medical information in emergencies, especially
terrorist attacks.
As a result, government officials are turning to the private
sector, and to universities, for help in responding quickly to
both natural and man-made disasters.
WVU has joined with six industry groups and the U.S. National
Guard Bureau in a partnership to use information technology to
help communities in the U.S. and around the globe respond to
public health emergencies. It's called the International Telemedicine
Collaboratory.
The group's first initiative is the creation of a Virtual
Medical Campus (VMC).
Using WVU's resources in telemedicine and it strengths in
rural emergency medicine and distance learning, coupled with
high-speed communications capabilities, the VMC makes training
resources and medical knowledge accessible to save lives when
every moment counts.
"The Nile Fever outbreak in New York is a perfect example,"
said Dr. Rusty Russell of WVU. "When this thing started,
the medical community thought it was encephalitis, but it wasn't.
There are things that anthrax looks like, such asmeasles. But
it's not. That's why quick diagnosis is paramount."
WVU's Economic Impact:
$1.3 Billion
The economic impact on West Virginia of WVU and affiliated
organizations in fiscal year 1998 includes $1.3 billion in total
output, according to a report prepared by WVU's Bureau of Business
and Economic Research. The total output generated by WVU alone
was $948 million.
The report's authors are Associate Dean of the College of Business
and Economics Tom S. Witt, Business Research Analyst Randall
A. Childs, and Research Associate David Greenstreet.
"The results of this report suggest that WVU is one of the
most important engines of economic growth within the state,"
Witt said.
The report measures both WVU's direct effects on the economy—such
as operating purchases, capital expenditures, and purchases by
faculty, staff, students, and visitors—and the additional
jobs and expenditures that grow indirectly from them. The report
looks at the impact of WVU and its regional campuses and at WVU's
impact including affiliated organizations: WVU Hospitals, University
Health Associates, the WVU Alumni Association, and NASA's work
in connection with WVU.
In addition to noting WVU's impact through educational and service
programs, the report highlights WVU's role as "the greatest
research resource for West Virginia businesses, industry, government,
and the public." With the research funding it receives from
federal, state, and private sources, WVU generates economic activity
through research purchases, and research results in new knowledge
that creates more employment opportunities.
This report is an update of a 1990 study of WVU's economic impact.
In March, the Bureau of Business and Economic Research released
a report detailing WVU's $220.6 million impact on the state's
export base. The reports are available on the web at http://www.be.wvu.edu/serve.
West Virginia Joins Supercomputing
Group
Scientists and researchers in West Virginia will soon be able
to take part in high-speed data-crunching via a new Supercomputing
Science Consortium comprising institutions in Pennsylvania and
West Virginia.
The consortium was formed by representatives from WVU, the Federal
Energy Technology Center (FETC), Carnegie Mellon University,
the West Virginia Governor's Office of Technology, and the Pittsburgh
Supercomputing Center. The agreement provides regional scientists,
engineers, and software developers access and support for high-performance
computing, high-speed data communication, and 3-D visualization.
Called (SC)2—"SC squared"—the partnership
promises to enhance national and regional economic growth while
advancing energy and environmental technologies.
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The (SC)2 partnership provides high-speed communications to West
Virginia researchers through the FETC, which is part of the National
Laboratory system. FETC is bringing a 155 megabytes-per-second
fiber optic cable into its facilities that will be used by West
Virginia researchers. WVU and the statewide higher education
system benefit from the connection in a cost-sharing arrangement.
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