WVU welcomes new department chair to the School of Public Health

Bethany Barone Gibbs, ScM, PhD, has been named chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics within the West Virginia University School of Public Health, effective April 1, 2022.

Previously a faculty member in the Department of Health and Human Development at the University of Pittsburgh, Gibbs has spent more than a decade studying the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disease through healthy lifestyle behaviors.

According to Gibbs, she looks forward to using her research to benefit the heart health of West Virginia communities in need of prevention-focused public health intervention.

“I'm most excited about collaborating with the fantastic University and community partners to design and implement scalable intervention programs,” said Gibbs. “I’m hopeful my research over the past 15 years can help to move the needle toward better cardiovascular health for West Virginians.”

Gibbs trained in cardiovascular and physical activity epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, where she earned her Doctor of Philosophy in 2010. Prior, she earned a Master of Science in epidemiology from the same institution in 2003, and a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology and chemistry from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2001.

Gibbs’ research focuses on population and intervention studies of physical activity, sedentary behavior and other lifestyle habits as they relate to hypertension, subclinical cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, with a recent focus in maternal health both during and after pregnancy. With family ties to the area, the new department chair is eager to spark change in an area with familiar roots.

“I could not be more excited to join the faculty of West Virginia University,” she said. “My grandparents are from farms in Washington, Pennsylvania, and Wellsburg, West Virginia, so I feel very connected to the mission of the University that serves these communities.”