JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University experts have contributed to a new award-winning book that explores the myriad health issues and challenges facing the people of Appalachia.
“Appalachian Health: Culture, Challenges, and Capacity” is co-edited by Dr. Randy Wykoff, dean of the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health, and the late Dr. F. Douglas Scutchfield of the University of Kentucky. The book was published by the University Press of Kentucky.
Using a balance of comprehensive data and storytelling, the contributors examine issues
such as affordable and accessible medical care, the opioid crisis and other social,
political, economic and environmental forces that impact health and wellbeing in Appalachia.
The book focuses both on the health challenges facing the people of Appalachia and
on the strengths and tools that they can utilize to address those challenges.
“I was honored to be asked to co-edit this important new book,” said Wykoff. “And I was especially pleased that so many colleagues from ETSU were able to contribute to it."
“The book is important, both in what it adds to our understanding of the health challenges of the Appalachian region, and to the extent that it documents the important role that ETSU plays in the region.”
In addition to faculty and staff from the College of Public Health, researchers from the college’s Addiction Science Center, Center for Rural Health Research and Center for Applied Research and Evaluation in Women’s Health (CARE Women’s Health) joined faculty from ETSU’s College of Arts and Sciences in contributing to six of the book’s 11 chapters.
This fall, the College of Public Health will host a Leading Voices in Public Health lecture featuring the ETSU experts who co-authored chapters. The lecture will be held on Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. in ETSU’s Millennium Center ballroom and will include presentations from:
- Dr. Randy Wykoff, dean and co-editor of the book and co-author of two chapters, will provide an overview of the book “Appalachian Health: Culture, Challenges, and Capacity;”
- Dr. Ron R. Roach, chair of the Department of Appalachian Studies, who wrote “Appalachia: An Introduction to the Region;”
- Dr. Kate Beatty, associate professor, who joined Dr. Melissa White, recent Doctor of Public Health graduate in writing the chapter “The Social Determinants of Health;”
- Michael Meit, co-director of ETSU Center for Rural Health Research, who co-wrote the “Deaths of Despair in Appalachia” chapter and;
- Dr. Angela Hagaman, who co-wrote “the Opioid Crisis in Appalachia” with Dr. Bill Brooks, Dr. Stephanie Mathis, and Dr. Rob Pack, of the ETSU Addiction Science Center, and Dr. Kelly E. Moore of the Department of Psychology.