More than a quarter of South Carolina residents live in rural areas and must overcome greater health care challenges than their urban counterparts.
The University of South Carolina has a number of faculty members available to offer
their expertise in rural health services and research. To coordinate an interview,
contact the staff member listed with each expert entry.
Health disparities
Kevin Bennett is the director of USC's Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare and the president of the National Rural Health Association. He has studied rural healthcare delivery, systems, and disparities for nearly 25 years and plays an active role in rural healthcare policy at the state and national levels. Dr. Bennett is available to discuss current trends in rural healthcare, barriers to improvement, effective delivery strategies, and policies that are improving such care.
News contact: Jamie Metz, Jamie.Metz@uscmed.sc.edu.
Elizabeth Crouch, director of USC’s Rural and Minority Health Research Center, works toward bridging gaps in care by examining social determinants of health. She has been honored for her examination of health disparities among rural and vulnerable populations across their lifespans, from adverse childhood experiences to Medicare utilization in older adults. She can talk on how the higher prevalence and higher mortality rates for heart failure and stroke combined with the reduced access to specialists and lack of services in these populations mean patients with heart diseases often have multiple comorbidities that lead to shorter lifespans.
News contact: Gregory Hardy, ghardy@sc.edu, 352-362-7052.
Frank Beacham is the program director for the Primary Care Accelerated Track at the School of Medicine Greenville. He works with highly motivated students who fill urgent Family Medicine vacancies across the Palmetto State by completing their MD program in three years. In exchange for a full tuition scholarship, students commit to a four-year primary care residency with Prisma Health. He can discuss how this innovative program is increasing access to medical education while reducing patient barriers in underserved rural communities across the state.
News contact: Roger Drouin, rdrouin@greenvillemed.sc.edu.
Food insecurity
Amy Weaver of the Arnold School of Public Health convenes the Food is Medicine South Carolina
committee, where priorities are helping women and children in rural communities. South
Carolina is one of 16 states that has “Food is Medicine” initiatives, which are partnerships
between health care organizations and food access providers that address and mitigate
the negative impacts of food insecurity for the health of communities. Food is Medicine
initiatives are expanding nationwide, and Weaver can provide context on how these
programs act as prevention and treatment for diet-related disease. She is available
to discuss rural food deserts and how local agriculture can tie in South Carolina-grown
produce to deliver “produce prescriptions” to health care providers.
News contact: Gregory Hardy, ghardy@sc.edu, 352-362-7052.
Mental and behavioral health care
Robin Dawson's scholarship builds on over two decades of clinical experience as a certified pediatric
nurse practitioner in rural South Carolina. Her research focuses on understanding
the context and processes of communication, as well as the development of practical
and innovative interventions designed to facilitate optimal patient-provider communication.
She uses the intersection of rurality and childhood asthma to explore three specific
areas of communication research: language discordance, technology-based interventions,
and health care provider communication skills.
News contact: Nicole Meares, nmeares@sc.edu, 803-777-9147.
Aidyn Iachin is an associate dean of research in the College of Social Work. Her work focuses on strengthening the behavioral health workforce in rural areas through specialized training programs. She conducts interviews with rural school behavioral health providers across SC to understand their workforce needs and challenges. She also assists with the placement of social work students in field internships within rural communities, which helps address the shortage of behavioral health professionals in underserved state areas.
News contact: Victoria Montgomery, vmontgom@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-9462.
Candice Morgan is an assistant professor in the College of Social Work with areas of expertise including youth suicide, recovery concepts, and coalitions and partnerships. Her work focuses on strengthening the behavioral health workforce in rural areas via specialized training programs, practice briefs, and practice cases.
News contact: Victoria Montgomery, vmontgom@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-9462.
Maternal health
Peiyin Hung is an associate professor of health services policy and management at the Arnold School
of Public Health. She can discuss the impact of health care delivery on access, quality,
and patient welfare for rural and underserved communities. Her extensive research
looks at how expectant mothers from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in
search of quality maternal care face dual burdens of long-distance travel and inadequate
digital access.
Closures of rural hospital-based maternity units create geographic disparities that impede access to maternity care for underserved women and pregnant, birthing and postpartum persons. Telehealth consultations and remote perinatal support for families in remote or underserved areas require digital technology, yet Hung’s study showed these residents have the least access to digital technology.
News contact: Gregory Hardy, ghardy@sc.edu, 352-362-7052.
Obesity
Nursing professor Demetrius Abshire has developed a lifestyle program to address obesity in African American men living
in the rural South. His research aims to identify variables associated with weight-related
behaviors and body mass index to gain insight on which factors may need to be targeted
in future obesity interventions. “Men are largely underrepresented in behavioral programs
that address obesity, and efforts are needed to reach minority men who live in the
rural South where obesity rates are particularly high,” Abshire says. He is currently
evaluating the impacts of two health programs, Game Day Ready and Walking and Health
Education, which are tailored for Black men in rural South Carolina.
News contact: Nicole Meares, nmeares@sc.edu, 803-777-9147.
Shelli Gibbs is an associate nursing professor and the director of the Family Nurse Practitioner program. She can discuss the impact of obesity in the rural primary care setting and its impact across a patient's lifespan as well as the importance of expanding the rural nursing workforce.
News contact: Nicole Meares, nmeares@sc.edu, 803-777-9147.
Pharmacy
Reagan K. Barfield is a clinical assistant professor of pharmacy and director of the Tandem Health-USC Pharmacy Residency Program that emphasizes rural health and ambulatory care. She founded
and directs the Southeastern Collaboration of Rural Health Research and Education (SCOR2E) Network, which is open to all pharmacists, especially those practicing in rural areas. Barfield
can discuss the network's role in improving care and promoting health in rural areas
through pharmacy advancement, networking, collaboration, research, quality initiatives,
education and more. She also leads a statewide initiative to expand rural pharmacy
services through the development of additional pharmacy residency programs across
the state.
News contact: Margaret Gregory, mar24@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-760-0255.
Patti Fabel is a clinical associate professor at USC's College of Pharmacy and executive director of the Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center, where she develops innovative ways for pharmacists to be placed in rural health centers. She has overseen pilot programs that demonstrate the value of including a pharmacist to a primary care team as a way to improve patient outcomes, close gaps in care, increase billable revenue and enhance the satisfaction of patients and providers.
News contact: Margaret Gregory, mar24@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-760-0255.
Housing and homelessness
Ann Gowdy of the College of Social Work is a licensed clinical social worker who works on solutions
for homelessness, with a focus on youth and young adults who are at risk of and experiencing
homelessness. Under the mission that housing is a basic need, she seeks to understand
risk factors in rural areas, identify available resources, help connect people to
services and educate communities that “Housing is Health Care.” Among challenges she
sees in talking with young adults experiencing homelessness are that they name mental
health access as their top unmet need and that many do not realize they meet the definition
of homeless. Originally from Lake City, South Carolina, Gowdy continues to live, work
and explore in the state’s rural communities.
News contact: Victoria Montgomery, vmontgom@mailbox.sc.edu.