Center for Excellence in Rural Health-Hazard

UKCERH-Hazard Researcher Receives National Award

HAZARD, Ky. (May 18, 2009) − David A. Gross, the University of Kentucky Center for Excellence in Rural Health-Hazard’s director of research, marketing and community engagement, has won an award for a health analysis project.

Gross received the National Rural Health Association’s LaVonne Straub Memorial Student Research Paper Award for his document, "The Association of Lung Cancer Mortality with Income and Education in Kentucky Counties." The paper analyzed the relationships between lung cancer deaths, high school graduation rates, per capita personal income and adult smoking - and whether statistically significant differences exist between Kentucky’s Appalachian and non-Appalachian counties.

"I am very proud of the honor received by David," said Dr. Baretta R. Casey, director of the UK Center for Excellence in Rural Health-Hazard. "The research project sheds new light on the probable linkages between lung cancer and socioeconomic factors."

The award, which recognizes and promotes student research on rural health topics, was presented on May 7 during NRHA’s 32nd Annual Rural Health Conference, held in Miami. Gross presented the paper as a poster session during the conference, which was attended by nearly 700 rural health advocates from across the nation. His poster received a first-place ranking from a panel of reviewers.

"Much of the center’s research focuses on our region’s health disparities, and lung cancer is at or near the top of that list," Gross said. "In fact, every Kentucky county exceeds the national rate for per capita lung cancer deaths. I’m pleased to have added to the knowledge base about a disease that affects so many rural Kentuckians."

Gross is pursuing a master of public administration degree, with an emphasis in community health administration, from Eastern Kentucky University. He lives in Jackson with his wife, Jolene, and son, Branston.

The UK Center for Excellence in Rural Health-Hazard, located at 750 Morton Blvd. in Hazard, works to improve the health of Kentucky’s Appalachian people through education, research, health care services and community engagement. For additional information about the center and its programs, you may call (606) 439-3557 or 1-800-851-7512.