Women’s Studies Residency to be held Nov. 7

Morgantown, WV, October 25, 2006: The Center for Women’s Studies will welcome an accomplished rural physician as the resident for its Eighth Women’s Studies Residency in Honor of Judith Gold Stitzel.

Dr. Katrina Poe will present the keynote address “Issues in Rural Health” on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Hostler Auditorium in the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center. The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception. Free parking is available behind the HSC guard booth and in the parking garage.

Poe is the winner of the 2005 Country Doctor of the Year Award from Staff Care, Inc., a prize given to a doctor who provides exemplary primary care to a community with a population of 20,000 or fewer. The youngest recipient in the award’s 11-year history, she was selected from nearly 400 candidates. The Mississippi Business Journal has also honored her as one of the Mississippi 50 Leading Business Women of the Year for 2006.

Poe returned to her hometown of Kilmichael, Miss., in 2001 after completing her medical training at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss. She returned just in time to replace the Kilmichael’s only physician, who was retiring. Poe opened a clinic, where she now sees 250 to 300 patients a week. She is also the medical director for the local nursing home and monitors the community’s home for mentally challenged youth.

The residency is part of the “Changing the Face of Medicine: Honoring Women Healthcare Professionals” exhibit series and is made possible through the support of the Women’s Studies Residency Endowment, the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, and the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center.

For more information, please call the Center for Women’s Studies at 304-293-2339 or email wmst@mail.as.wvu.edu.

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