The West Virginia University School of Medicine, the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center and the WVU Libraries invite the public to attend a forum titled “Your Health and Mindfulness” to be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. November 28 in the Milano Reading Room of the Charles C. Wise Library.
Dr. Clay Marsh, vice president and executive dean of WVU Health Sciences, will be joined by Dr. Michael Brumage and Professor Emeritus Bill Reger-Nash for a discussion on the dynamic relationship between health and mindfulness.
“The topic of mindfulness has begun to permeate many aspects of our lives,” said Chanelle Pickens, a visiting librarian with WVU Libraries. “A wide variety of mindfulness practices exist, each with its own benefit to mental, physical and emotional health.”
The School of Medicine, the Health Sciences Center and the Libraries are co-sponsoring the program as part of their commitment to make the health and well-bring of all West Virginia residents a top priority.
Marsh is WVU’s chief health officer and serves as a member of President E. Gordon Gee’s leadership team. As WVU’s vice president for health sciences, he oversees five health sciences schools and three health campuses, and serves on the governing boards that determine policy and priorities for WVU Medicine and its component organizations. In addition, as executive dean, he is the leader of the WVU School of Medicine. Marsh is a two-time graduate of WVU, earning an undergraduate degree in biology and a medical degree.
Brumage, MD, MPH, FACP, is the executive director and health officer for Kanawha-Charleston Health Department in Charleston. Brumage recently retired as a Colonel after 25 years service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, where he worked with mindfulness-based interventions since 2008. Brumage received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from WVUand graduated from the WVU School of Medicine.
Reger-Nash, professor emeritus WVU School of Public Health, began a regular meditation practice in 1959, when he first lived as a monk. He taught in WVU’s Department of Community Medicine and the School of Public Health since 1991. He teaches an intensive summer graduate course in wellness and serves as the co-chair of the Mindfulness Work Group for WVU Medicine. His publications focus on wellness, participatory planning, social marketing, physical activity and nutrition. His Foundations of Wellness college textbook was published in 2015 by Human Kinetics. Reger-Nash has a doctoral degree in exercise physiology from WVU; master’s degrees in political science and educational psychology, both from the University of Hawaii; and a bachelor’s degree in French from Marist College.
The forum is among several programs offered during Mindful Mountaineers Month, a Libraries initiative to help students, faculty and staff discover a contemplative practice that is meaningful to them. The event is also part of the Talking Publicly Series, an initiative by the Libraries to bring important issues to the forefront and provide a stage for genuine conversation among WVU students, faculty and staff and the wider Morgantown and West Virginia community.
There will be a reception following the forum. For more information, contact Pickens at chanelle.pickens@mail.wvu.edu.
