The Health Frontier

Leading the One Health Initiative to Achieve Whole Health >>>

Changing the paradigm from a focus on disease and symptoms to one of whole health, integrating intersections of animal, environment, and human health and building in communities and systems to empower multifaceted well-being.

Sisters with rare disorder find help

When a girl was born with a rare genetic mutation that affects brain development, her family found a way forward at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC Neuromotor Research Clinic. When the rare genetic mutation and its symptoms appeared in the girl’s sister, the family knew where to turn.

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Dory Wallace, a senior occupational therapist at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC Neuromotor Research Clinic, works with Bella using the clinic’s intensive, play-based ACQUIRE therapy. Photo by Clayton Metz for Virginia Tech.

A National Priority

Created more than 20 years ago to facilitate the study and evaluation of complementary and alternative health practices, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (has worked to advance the position that evidence-based complementary therapies should be “integrated” with and not used as an “alternative” to conventional medicine. The center’s strategic plan for fiscal years 2021–25 expands the definition of integrative health to include whole person health -- empowering individuals, families, communities, and populations to improve their health in multiple interconnected domains: biological, behavioral, social, and environmental. The plan has been informed and shaped by an effort to better define and map a path to whole person health by expanding and building on current activities while advancing new research strategies and ideas.

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Bringing the One Health vision to Botswana

For nearly 30 years, Kathleen Alexander has helped to make towns and villages in northern Botswana a place of convergence, where ecological research in one of the most dynamic natural environments on the planet meets the human dimensions of a rapidly changing world.

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Kathleen Alexander (at center) has made a career researching wildlife and conservation in Botswana. Here, she and colleague Lena Patiño (both at center) assess the health of two banded mongoose with Virginia Tech students. Photo courtesy of Cole Grazia.

Linking stress and mental health disorders

By studying zebrafish, Albert Pan and his team found a molecule that is critical in developing the stress response, a finding that sheds new light on the potential cause of mental health conditions such as stress, anxiety, and related disorders.

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Albert Pan, an associate professor with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, found a connection between a molecule called DSCAML1 and development of the brain’s stress response by studying zebrafish. His findings, published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, could lead to a better understanding of stress, anxiety and related conditions in humans. Photo by Clayton Metz for Virginia Tech.

Health Research Areas

Aerosol Science
Air Quality
Addiction Recovery
Antibiotic Resistance
Applied Microbiology and the Microbiome
Atmospheric Science
Biomaterials
Biomechanics
Biomedical Imaging
Cancer
Cardiovascular Engineering
Cardiovascular Science
Children's Health

Climate Dynamics
Coastal Engineering
Disaster Resilience
Ecological Restoration
Environmental Modeling and Simulation
Environmental Data Analysis and Visualization
Food Safety
Freshwater Salinization
Health Behaviors
Invasive Species
Hazardous Waste Assessment and Treatment
Human Neuroscience

Infectious Disease
Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology
Pollution in Freshwater Systems
Psychology and Mental Health
Tissue Engineering
Water Health
Water Infrastructure
Water Treatment
Water Reuse and Recycle
Watersheds, Lake, and Reservoir Management
Water Supply
Vegetated coastal hydrodynamics
Viruses

Health Research Experts

From airborne transmitted diseases to greenhouse gas emissions, Virginia Tech faculty, students, and partners work together at the intersection of health science and technology disciplines.

Warren K. Bickel

Linsey Marr

X.J. Meng

Karen Roberto

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Virginia Tech Health Research Sponsors

Health Research Teams

Talented faculty and students are developing cutting edge research that is leading Virginia Tech’s rise as a global destination for health sciences and technology. Virginia Tech’s health sciences footprint is growing, connecting research to Virginia Tech campuses in the Washington D.C. metro area and in Roanoke and Blacksburg, Virginia .

Addiction Recovery Research Center

Affective Neurodynamics and Development Lab

Applied Interdisciplinary Research in Air

Biotechnology Laboratory

Cancer Research Group

Center for Coastal Studies

Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens

Center for Engineered Health

Center for Environmental Analytics and Remote Sensing

Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation

Center for Geospatial Information Technology

Center for Gerontology

Center for Health Behaviors Research

Center for Human-Computer Interaction

Center for Humanities

Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability

CENTER FOR NEUROBIOLOGY RESEARCH

CENTER FOR HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH

Center for Public Health Practices and Research

CENTER FOR VASCULAR AND HEART RESEARCH

Conservation Management Institute

Global Change Center

Human Integrative Physiology Lab

John Little Research Group

NATIONAL PEDIATRIC REHABILITATION RESOURCE CENTER

NEUROMOTOR RESEARCH CLINIC

Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Laboratory

Physical Activity Research and Community Implementation Laboratory

Pruden Laboratory

Translational Plant Sciences Center

VIRGINIA TECH SCHIFFERT HEALTH CENTER MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS LAB

Work Stress and Recovery Lab

Virginia Tech Center for Autism Research

Health News

Article Item

New research finds mechanism that regulates PTSD in the female brain , article
Virginia Tech researchers discovered a protein that could lead to better therapeutic treatment for females with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Date: May 18, 2023
Article Item

Grassroots philanthropy effort will fund Virginia Tech white-tailed deer research , article
A philanthropic grant from Virginia Hound Heritage will help support research on a disease impacting white-tailed deer in Virginia.
Date: May 05, 2023
Article Item

Whole Health Consortium expands traditional focus of health and well-being research and practices , article
Weaving together research, education, and practice, Virginia Tech faculty and community members are developing a consortium focused on the transformative concept of whole health.
Date: May 03, 2023
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Lack of access to clean water impacts economic and health disparities , article
An interdisciplinary research team aims to quantify the economic and health implications of using multiple water sources, such as natural springs and bottled water, when in-home water is not accessible or the quality is questionable.
Date: Apr 26, 2023

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