On April 16, 2009, Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., was joined by Congressman Nick Rahall, W.Va.-3, and others in dedicating the newest teaching and clinical center of Marshall University’s medical school. Named after his beloved wife, the Erma Ora Byrd Clinical Center is home to the busy departments of Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine, as well as the primary teaching site for medical students. Byrd, in his capacity as the senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was responsible for obtaining more than $22 million in federal funding for the construction of the building.

The new facility has enabled the medical school to increase its class size by 50 percent and to date Marshall University has educated 130 students at the new center.  It has provided the students with more opportunity to practice, as well as giving them ready access to medical simulators. The facility as serves as the hub for the Virtual Colonoscopy outreach program to southern West Virginia and its mobile medical unit.

The Clinical Center has also resulted in a significant increase in the number of visits to University Cardiovascular Services and University Physicians in Internal Medicine.  It addition, it has provided for the expansion of the Diabetes Center and the state’s only endocrinology training program with the recruitment of four fellowship trained endocrinologists.  In addition, the gastroenterology section has also been expanded, allowing for the development of a specialized Digestive Diseases Center. 

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