Contemporary biomedical research relies heavily on interdisciplinary approaches. Faculty and trainees in the WVU School of Pharmacy participate in a number of campus-wide research centers. In addition, they have access to state-of-the-art equipment and resources through shared research facilities at WVU and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)/National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) which is adjacent to the health sciences center campus.
Research Centers
Investigators in the WVU School of Pharmacy are affiliated with a number of research centers and groups that foster interdisciplinary research.
Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center: The Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center is West Virginia’s most comprehensive cancer treatment, research, and education facility.
WVU Center for Neuroscience: The Center for Neuroscience is the focal point for neuroscience research at WVU.
Center for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences: The Center for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences is established to strengthen and unite basic, clinical, and translational research in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases at WVU.
WVNano Initiative: WVNano is the state of West Virginia’s focal point for nanoscale science, engineering, and biotechnology research.
West Virginia CoHORTS Center: The CoHORTS Center has established itself as the primary center for growing health services and outcomes research at WVUHSC, and is an integral component of the newly established Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.
Shared Facilities
Investigators in the WVU School of Pharmacy have access to a number of state-of-the-art shared research facilities at WVU and NIOSH.
WVU Health Sciences Center core research facilities: Animal Models and Imaging Core Facility; Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core Facility; Biospecimen Processing Core; Center for Advanced Imaging; Clinical Pharmacology Shared Resource Core Facility; Clinical Trials Research Unit; Computational and Structural Biology Core Facility; Flow Cytometry Core Facility; Laboratory Animals Resources; Microscopic Imaging Facility; Molecular Medicine Core Facility; Tissue Bank and Research Laboratory; Transgenic Animal Core Facility. These core facilities are operated with a designated individual to run the day-to-day operations on a charge basis with both user and service options.
WVU chemistry and engineering core research facilities: WVNano Fabrication Clean Room; Advanced Characterization (x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, scanning probe microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy; Raman microscopy). The facilities are open to all for a user fee; training is provided as part of the fee.
NIOSH core research facilities: Inhalation Facility; Histology/Microscopy/Pathology Facility; Electron Spin Resonance Facility; Cell Culture and Molecular Biology Facility; Animal Quarters and In Vivo Facility. The NIOSH cores are fully staffed by technicians and independent investigator collaborators. They are accessible to School of Pharmacy faculty and students through guest scientist collaborative arrangements.
WVU CoHORTS – Data Warehouse
The PSP department maintains a data repository, which was originally funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2006. The data repository holds a variety of databases such as Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Employee and Commercial Insurance databases, cancer registries linked with Medicare claims (SEER-Medicare), Survey data linked with Medicare claims (MCBS), Health Care Utilization Project (HCUP), HRS, NHANES, BRFSS, NHIS, MEPS, MCBS, NSDUH, HINTS, NPPES, PSID, AHRF and others for the conduct of research in health services and outcomes. Dr. Usha Sambamoorthi is the director of the Data Warehouse. The data warehouse is routinely updated and maintained with the assistance of graduate students.
These data are stored in an encrypted server. The storage server is housed and maintained in the HSC Server Room and also replicated to a second storage server at the DR site (WVUH Ruby Office Complex). The server is only accessible from the WVU internal network. Any PSP faculty members and PSP graduate students can request access to the storage server and access is granted by HSC IT to only authorized users.