The West Virginia University Department of Sociology and Anthropology will host Dr. Bill Mase, associate professor at the College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University for a lecture titled “Rural Communities Access to Healthcare Services: People Policy, and Poverty” April 14 at 3:30 p.m. at the Erickson Alumni Center.
Mase’s primary research focus is public health and the healthcare-related workforce. Prior to joining GSU, he served as public health academic program director at both the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Wright State University School of Medicine. He led the public health academic program planning, development, implementation, and successful CEPH accreditation for both the universities.
“Both Georgia and West Virginia struggle with high rates of rural poverty which lead to special concerns in getting high quality health care to hard-to-reach populations,” said Lynne Cossman, Department of Sociology and Anthropology chair. “There is a crisis with critical access hospital closures in Georgia and other rural states and Dr. Mase explains how those closures effect the health and well-being of rural populations.”
Mase will also speak at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology faculty awards banquet, providing career advice and encouragement.
“We're particularly excited to have Dr. Mase speak at our inaugural department awards banquet Thursday evening. His work in rural health overlaps with two of the three areas our new doctoral program focuses on. It’s not just sociology doctoral students who can benefit from his insights, all students need to understand how health and poverty go hand-in-hand,” said Cossman.
