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WVU Walk with a Future Doc program begins third year of promoting health and wellness through educational walks

The West Virginia University Walk with a Future Doc program will hold its first walk of the academic year on Saturday, August 20, at 10 a.m. at the Edith Barill Riverfront Park and Trail in Star City.

Walk with a Future Doc is a program focused on promoting health and wellness in the community through educational discussion and group walks. The topic for the upcoming walk is “Heart-Health and Happiness.”

Presenters include Brianna Skaff, a fourth-year medical student at WVU, and Paulina Skaff, M.D., a cardiology fellow for the WVU Section of Cardiology.

In March 2020, a group of medical students launched WVU’s Walk with a Future Doc program. The program is a chapter of the national nonprofit Walk with a Doc and is entirely led and organized by medical students.

The program hosts walks on the first and third Saturdays of each month during the academic year. Prior to each a walk, a WVU medical professional or trainee will lead a discussion on a health-related topic of their choice. The walks are held in a hybrid format, giving participants the opportunity to walk as a group in-person in Morgantown, or to walk along with the group at home virtually via Zoom.

“The hybrid option allows us to have attendees who live outside the Morgantown area participate in our walks, and lets us continue to host the walks during the cold winter months,” said WVU Walk with a Future Doc president and fourth-year medical student Mia Antinone. “Our goal is to get as many people involved as we can, so we can create a large interconnected community focused on improving health and wellness.”

Last academic year the program hosted a total of 17 walks, with topics ranging from “Sleep Hygiene Do’s and Don’ts” to “Skin Protection 101” and “The Mind-Body Connection.” Student officers said they are excited to begin another year of walks, and that they have a variety of great speakers covering a wide array of topics planned for this year.

To receive emails with all the information for each walk, including the Zoom link to join virtually, you can sign up for the WVU Walk with a Future Doc Newsletter. To learn more about this program, and all of the student programs available at the School of Medicine, visit medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/md-student-services/organizations/.