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Honoring Black History 

The WVSOM Center for Rural and Community Health (CRCH) celebrates diverse individuals and communities working together to improve outcomes for all.  This month, we would like to spotlight those individuals who are making a difference with their time and talents each and every day.  These individuals exemplify what can happen when we learn from history to change the future. 

Dominique C. Elmore, D.O.

When Dr. Meta Christy graduated as the first Black osteopathic physician in 1921 from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), her primary goal was to provide medical care to those in her community.   She may not have realized the significance of her achievements not just to other people of color,  but especially  to women. Currently, less than 2%  of all physicians in the US are women of color. Dominque Chanel Elmore, D.O.,  WVSOM Class of 2016, is one of the 2% and believes this needs to change.   A true child of WV, she was raised in Huntington, WV by her mother.  She graduated from Marshall University with both a BS and an MA and then  continued her educational career at WVSOM. She is currently a pediatric emergency medicine fellow in Louisville Kentucky.

Bishop Robert Haley & A More Excellent Way Life Center Church

Robert L. Haley III, Pastor of A More Execellent Way Life Center Church envisions the way forward by looking to the past. Taking the lessons taught by churches on community engagement in post Jim Crow days, he developed a dream for his beloved west Charleston, WV community.  That dream came to fruition with the opening of A More Excellent Way Community Center on Virginia Street West Charleston, WV,  in 2018. More than a church, A More Excellent Way Life Center Church has become a hub to the community. 

Brittany Keys Anderson, EdS

Brittany Keys Anderson is one of five daughters of Wilford and Kim Keys of Lewisburg, WV.  Graduating from Greenbrier East in 2006, she went on to pursue both a BS and a MEd  from Concord University in Athens, WV, as well as an EdS from Liberty University.  She is a current EdD student at Liberty University and is the principal of Bluefield Primary School, Bluefield, WV.  Early on Brittany  had a passion to help children become whatever they envision.  Brittany believes that we all have the power to positively impact our communities.