WVU School of Medicine to host 44th annual Hal Wanger Family Medicine Conference

Family physicians, nurses and healthcare providers will have the opportunity to gain hands-on, practical care skills and hear from nations experts during WVU Medicine’s 44th Annual Hal Wanger Family Medicine Conference, Sept. 20 – 21 in Morgantown at the Holiday Inn, Pineview Drive.

The conference, hosted by WVU’s Department of Family Medicine, will address more than 24 topics, including anxiety treatment, acute stroke care and integrating mental health into primary care. The topic of addiction will be covered from multiple facets, including medication assisted treatment in primary care and in geriatrics. 

The keynote speaker, Tammy Chang, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., will speak on the “Critical Issues in the Care of Teen Mothers,” discussing how social factors effect teen mothers’ health and the provider’s options to help reduce the negative impact of those factors. Chang is the 2018 Mesaros Distinguished Speaker, which honors Drs. Paul and Laura Mesaros.

“For almost 50 years we have welcomed all colleagues from all over the region to an up-to-date, clinical conference that helps them provide the best care to their patients,” Dana E. King, M.D., conference co- and chair of the WVU Department of Family Medicine, said.  “Dr. Chang is an inspiring speaker and family physician researcher whose experience sheds important light on the topic of teen mothers.”

According to Anne Cather, M.D., WVU departments of Family Medicine and Community Practice professor, the family medicine profession encompasses a wide range of problems and health concerns.

“The conference meets the needs of health care providers by offering up-to-date medical information in a comfortable and collegial environment,” Cather, who also serves as conference co-director, said.

The conference is named in honor of Halvard Wanger, M.D., who organized an extensive scientific assembly to celebrate the Eastern Panhandle Medical Association’s 50th anniversary in 1956.

Dr. Wanger directed the annual Institute through 1974. When Wanger canceled the Institute in 1975 because of health reasons, the WVU Department of Family Medicine assumed responsibility for continuing the conference. 

For more information on the conference, including registration, lodging and continuing education, visit http://go.wvu.edu/halwanger.

The deadline to register is Thursday, Sept. 13.

-WVU-

CONTACT: Cassie Thomas

WVU School of Medicine

304.293.3412; cassie.thomas@hsc.wvu.edu