Approximately 125 Eastern Kentucky University students will present their research projects at the third annual College of Health Sciences (CHS) Scholars Day.
The event will be held on Tuesday, April 18, from 9 a.m. to noon at the EKU Center for the Arts. The theme this year is “Shaping and Improving Health and Well-Being.”
The event was established “as a way to showcase students and their research,” said Dr. Michael Ballard, chair of the Department of Health Promotion and Administration. “The College has a significant number of students engaging in a variety of research projects within their respective degree programs. This research would not be possible without the exceptional mentoring and guidance provided by CHS faculty.”
Each participating student will enter one of three categories: Traditional Research Poster, Discipline Application/Innovation, and Case Study Poster. Each department in the college will present one outstanding undergraduate and one outstanding graduate student poster award.
Doug Thoroughman, deputy director of the Division of Epidemiology and Health Planning in the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) and interim state epidemiologist, will present the event’s keynote address at 9:15 a.m.
Thoroughman is a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) career epidemiology field officer who has been assigned to the KDPH since 2002. He earned a Ph.D. in epidemiology at Emory University in 1996 after an earlier master’s degree in psychology and a term with the U.S Peace Corps, where he was introduced to public health through an assignment to build a district immunization program in Liberia, West Africa. He joined the CDC via the Epidemic Intelligence Service and was assigned to the Indian Health Service (IHS) Headquarters Epidemiology Program in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from 1996 to 1998. He subsequently served IHS as its national hepatitis coordinator from 1999 to 2002. During his time at KDPH, he has focused on building epidemiologic capacity and public health preparedness, working on numerous outbreak investigations, deploying nationally and internationally with the U.S. Public Health Service for public health responses, and mentoring students, fellow officers and colleagues in public health.
CHS Scholars Day begins with registration at 8:30 a.m., with the welcome and opening remarks at 9 a.m. After Thoroughman’s lecture, an awards ceremony will be held at 10:15, with poster presentations and reception to follow.
The public is welcome.