Tyson Receives Grants Totalling $800,000 from NC DHHS
Jennifer Schroeder Tyson, faculty member in the Department of Public Health, has been awarded two contracts totaling more than $800,000 from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. (Image of Schroeder Tyson below)
About the Projects
The first contract will help fund the Aging Well High Country Older Adult Mental Health Initiative to address some of the mental health challenges faced by older adults in western North Carolina. In this initiative, caregivers and older adults will be trained as Wellness Ambassadors in Mental Health and Psychological First Aid (MHPFA), increase community engagement, and work on reducing the stigma around mental health challenges.
In the second project, Appalachian Innovative Approaches (Innovation Approaches 2.0), Schroeder Tyson, and co-principal investigator, Dr. Gavin Colquitt, will partner with AppHealthCare and other local agencies to address the needs of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) and provide support for their families.
Battista Honored With Mentoring Award
Battista honored with Emily M. Haymes Mentoring Award with SEACSM
Congratulations to Rebecca A. Battista, Ph.D., 2025 recipient of the Emily M. Haymes Mentoring Award at the recent Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (SEACSM) Women's event held in Greenville, SC. Battista is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and the director of the App State Office of Student Research. (Battista is pictured above on the left holding the award.)
A nominator said of her mentorship, "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to allow this committee to see Becki for who she is; not "just" a professor or researcher, but one who has mentorship and leadership so deep within her, that she embodies it in everything she does. It is truly who she is."
Research Connects Public Health, Geography and Climate Science
Dr. Maggie Sugg, research fellow with Appalachian Institute for Health and Wellness and associate professor in Geography and Planning, continues productive interprofessional collaborations with numerous faculty in the Beaver College of Health Sciences related to research that connects the disciplines of public health, geography and climate science.
Sugg focuses on the spatiotemporal patterns of health and how these patterns relate to environmental, socioeconomic, and climatic determinants. Her research provides insights into the etiology of environmental health diseases, highlighting both overburdened populations and how environmental conditions can lead to adverse health outcomes.
Sugg has published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers (h-index = 25; i10-index = 39) in various disciplines, including public health, spatial epidemiology, geography, and climate science.
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