Emily Schabacker

Focused ultrasound, a noninvasive medical treatment, has the potential to treat up to 170 different medical conditions. Virginia Tech stands out as the only research center exploring therapeutic focused ultrasound for pets.

In the last six years, five maternity units have closed down across rural Virginia, impacting access to prenatal care. However, with the closures have come new models of care. Growing availability of doula services aims to ease maternal morbidity, particularly among Black mothers.

The Claude Moore Charitable Foundation is partnering with the Blue Ridge Partnership for Health Science Careers, which was founded in 2019 in response to the region’s urgent need for health care workers.

Carilion Clinic has now raised $70 million of its $100 million goal to bring a cancer care center to Roanoke. 

Carilion said the Ohio-based company will offer comparable wages, benefits and positions to the nearly 800 employees who will be affected by the transition. 

After a modest beginning, the Bradley Free Clinic has grown to be a staple in the community. It has won national recognition and has become a model for free clinics elsewhere.

Leaders at Good Samaritan have wanted to bring a freestanding, inpatient hospice service to the valley since the nonprofit’s inception in 1992. Now, 30 years later, the dream has become a reality.

Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, said the funding for the Move Mountains Medical Mission was pulled amid concerns about executive compensation at the Health Wagon. He expects legislators will take a closer look at its finances ahead of the 2025 General Assembly.

The line item in the state budget for the Wise-based free clinic had been recurring since 2006, but was removed from the 2024 budget following reports of outsized compensation for executive leadership and other employees.

The Health Wagon serves an area where more than half of households live in poverty. The head of the nonprofit received a compensation package worth $520,000 in 2022, well beyond that of comparable executives in wealthier regions of Virginia.