Welcome to The Pulse, a weekly roundup of health-focused news. Each Thursday, we bring you updates on health policy, community surveys, new clinical studies, programs and services in Southwest and Southside Virginia.
Got a tip or story idea? Email me at emily@cardinalnews.org.
Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority distributes $35.2 million in grants
The Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority announced more than $35.2 million in new grants for programs targeting substance use disorder across the state.
State lawmakers created the authority in 2021 to manage funds from opioid settlements and invest in programs that address opioid addiction and substance use disorders.
According to a press release from the authority, the 2027 grant awards support evidence-based prevention, treatment, recovery support, harm reduction, workforce development, criminal justice diversion and individual and family support programs.
The authority awarded grants to 150 programs across the state. For fiscal year 2027, it approved 64 individual distribution projects — noncompetitive, preallocated funds reserved for every city and county in Virginia — including 13 new projects and 51 renewals. Four new programs in Southwest and Southside Virginia received a combined $383,870.
The authority also awarded 79 cooperative partnership grants, a competitive funding program that supports collaborative projects between neighboring localities. Those awarded included 21 new projects and 58 renewals. Nine new grants went to organizations in Southwest and Southside Virginia, bringing about $4.26 million to the region for substance use disorder services and initiatives.
The authority also renewed funding for seven Operation STOP (Specifically Targeted Overdose Prevention) projects, which serve communities where Black residents experience disproportionately high rates of fatal overdoses.
“Behind every one of these awards is a community that refused to accept the status quo,” state Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Washington County and chair of the OAA board of directors, said in a press release.
“Virginia continues to lead the nation with its opioid settlement fund investments which are doing exactly what they were intended to do — reach people where they are, expand access to the treatment and recovery they need, and give local leaders the resources to solve problems they know better than anyone.”
These are the newly funded projects in Southwest and Southside Virginia for fiscal year 2027:
Individual distribution awards
- Franklin County
- Youth mental health first aid training for school and community prevention: $16,250
- Franklin County family drug treatment court: $61,437
- Roanoke
- RAM opioid abatement program: $46,183
- Wise County
- Wise County recovery-to-work business redevelopment initiative: $260,000
Cooperative partnership awards
- Lynchburg
- Cabell Street Women’s Recovery Center: $1.1 million
- Bedford County
- Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority recovery and reentry program: $696,763
- Dickenson County
- Southwest Virginia Workforce Development Board ROPES program: $814,060
- Pulaski County
- Opioid use disorder recovery support and reentry collaboration: $174,999
- Roanoke
- On Our Own Roanoke Valley: $181,455
- Bradley Free Clinic’s HOPE Initiative: $207,800
- Franklin County
- Integrating STI services into substance use and correction: $709,500
- Scott County
- Isaiah 117 House Scott/Lee/Norton/Wise: $179,405
- Washington County
- Isaiah 117 House Washington/Smyth/Bristol: $195,000
Virginia Tech researchers ask hard questions about aging brains and obesity
A researcher at Virginia Tech is trying to answer a question that has long plagued scientists: How and why does obesity increase the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease?
Neuroscientist Timothy Jarome thinks that obesity accelerates the brain’s aging process, according to a press release from Virginia Tech.
About 1 in 3 adults over age 70 experience age-related memory loss, a condition with no treatment, while nearly 40% of U.S. adults are obese.
“We know obesity affects memory, and we know aging affects memory,” Jarome said in the press release. “What we don’t know is whether they’re driven by the same process in the brain.”
Jarome studies the molecular mechanisms behind memory disorders such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder. His latest research is supported by a $410,000 grant from the National Institute on Aging, according to the release.
Previous research by Jarome’s team found that levels of K63 polyubiquitination, a molecular process involved in memory formation, remain unusually high in aging brains and are linked to memory decline. Reducing K63 levels improved memory in older rats. The researchers also found elevated K63 levels and poorer memory performance in young rats fed a high-fat diet, suggesting that obesity may trigger memory changes similar to those seen in aging brains through the same pathway.
Findings from Jarome’s research could point toward new treatments designed to slow or prevent memory decline.
“If we can understand the mechanism that connects these two things, then we can start thinking about ways to target it,” Jarome said in the press release. “My hope is that this will help us better understand what’s causing the brain to essentially age faster and make us more likely to have dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.”
Ballad Health CEO receives national recognition
Becker’s Hospital Review named Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine to its list of “2026 Greatest Leaders in Healthcare,” recognizing executives who are advancing care delivery.
Levine was selected alongside leaders from major health systems, including Kaiser Permanente, Mount Sinai Health System and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, according to a press release from the hospital.
According to Becker’s, the annual list highlights healthcare leaders who drive innovation, improve care and expand access to services.
Ballad cited several accomplishments under Levine’s leadership, including recruiting more than 800 providers since 2018, reopening Lee County Community Hospital, expanding behavioral health and neonatal services, and investing more than $400 million in facilities, technology and access improvements since 2022.
Levine has led Ballad Health since its formation in 2018 through the merger of Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System. The health system serves parts of Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Western North Carolina.
