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.
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Carilion Clinic and Roanoke County Public Schools have announced a long-term partnership to expand health care workforce development training at the new Roanoke County Career and Technology Center.
[Disclosure: Carilion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Carilion will invest $1.25 million over five years to support medical instruction and a new dental assistant training program at the career center, according to a press release from the school division.
The new facility will replace the Burton Center for Arts and Technology in Salem and will provide specialized, hands-on training and industry certifications for high school students. It will also house the Governor’s STEM program.
Students will be able to enroll in courses that prepare them for careers in fields such as engineering, welding, mass communication, graphic design, culinary arts, building trades, mechatronics and robotics, health sciences and cybersecurity.
The center is scheduled to open in early 2027.
Carilion’s investment will also support the Campaign for Excellence, a capital campaign by the school division that provides opportunities for students such as scholarships for graduates from the center who are pursuing careers in high-demand fields such as health care.
Carilion and Roanoke County schools have partnered on workforce initiatives for more than a decade, according to the press release. In 2016, the school division added emergency medical technician training with support from Jefferson College of Health Sciences, later Radford University Carilion. The Burton Center introduced nursing career courses in 2018 and added radiological technician training in 2022, both with support from Carilion.
Radiological technician courses are currently housed at Carilion Children’s Pediatric Medicine – Tanglewood location. Once the new instructional space opens, these classes will move to the new center.
The facility will provide more than 123,000 square feet of instructional space. Crews began construction on the $80 million project in September 2024.
FBRI researcher tackles leukemia detection
The most common type of acute leukemia in adults is one that many patients don’t survive. The aggressive blood cancer often returns even after medical tests indicate remission.
Geography and access to care can worsen outcomes. Data from the Virginia Department of Health shows that the New River Valley and Cumberland Plateau health districts — regions where patients often live far from specialized care — report some of the highest leukemia incidence rates in the state.
Acute myeloid leukemia presents a unique challenge: A small number of nearly undetectable cells can remain and these cells can trigger a relapse.
Jesse Tettero, a Virginia Tech postdoctoral associate at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Cancer Research Center in Washington, D.C., studies how and why this cancer returns. His work focuses on detecting measurable residual disease, the small number of cancer cells that persist after treatment, according to a press release from Virginia Tech.
“At the end of treatment, there may still be just a few leukemia cells hiding among a million healthy cells,” Tettero said in the release. “If those cells survive, the cancer can return in an aggressive way, so we need extremely sensitive tests to find them early.”
Tettero uses laser-based cell analysis tools to examine individual cells and identify subtle abnormalities that point to lingering disease. While this tool is widely used, this method can produce variable results depending on how samples are collected, which markers are used, the instrumentation and the skill of the person interpreting the data, according to the press release.
To improve consistency, Tettero collaborates with the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, a national registry that compiles clinical and laboratory data from transplant centers. He joined the group’s taskforce in 2024 to help standardize testing practices across institutions.
His research is increasingly focused on molecular approaches, including next-generation and whole-genome sequencing. These DNA-based methods can detect cancer-related mutations at much lower levels than traditional techniques, offering the potential to identify relapse earlier and more precisely.
Tettero was also the winner of the 2025-26 Lyerly Postdoctoral Excellence Award, recognizing exceptional research potential for novel scientific contributions and professional development.
Carilion receives grant for proton therapy
The Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia recently awarded a $500,000 grant to Carilion Clinic to support the addition of a proton beam accelerator for the Carilion Taubman Cancer Center.
The Roanoke-based Community Foundation connects donors with community needs through permanent endowment funds.
Proton therapy remains relatively rare in the U.S. but offers a minimally invasive and highly targeted form of cancer treatment. The technology uses positively charged particles to deliver radiation directly to tumors, limiting damage to surrounding tissue. It is especially effective for complex pediatric cancers.
The equipment requires a dedicated facility with thick concrete walls to contain radiation. Carilion launched a $50 million capital campaign in October 2025 to fund both the accelerator and the specialized structure.
The hospital raised $105 million for the cancer center just before launching the campaign for the proton beam accelerator.
The proton therapy unit will be built adjacent to the cancer center, which is under construction and is expected to open in 2028.
“We are grateful to the Community Foundation and its many donors for their generosity that will benefit thousands of patients each year,” Mike Abbott, president of Carilion Medical Center, said in a press release. “With the support of dedicated partners like the Community Foundation, we can ensure our patients have access to the most advanced cancer care close to home.”
