VCU researcher, administrator featured on statewide public radio program

By Joe Kuttenkuler

The growing ranks of obese Americans and a discussion of Virginia's fragile health care delivery system are topics a Virginia Commonwealth University professor and Health System administrator will discuss on the Virginia public radio program "With Good Reason" during the weeks of July 5 - 11 and July 26 - Aug. 1. The show is carried on 12 different stations throughout the state.

Cindy Bulik, Ph.D., a psychiatrist and eating disorders expert at VCU's Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, will discuss her research on the role genetics plays in weight control. Bulik has done extensive research on obesity, anorexia and bulimia.

At a recent conference discussing Virginia's medically uninsured population, Sheldon Retchin, M.D., senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of the VCU Health System, described the fragile safety net of health care many Virginians face. Retchin will discuss what he calls the "ecology of safety net care" - the struggle for many individuals to maintain coverage and for medical centers to provide quality care to the uninsured, while at the same time covering their own costs.

"With Good Reason" can be heard locally each Saturday at 1 p.m. on WCVE 88.9. Previous shows are archived on the program's Web site at www.virginia.edu/vfh/wgr/.

Founded in 1992, "With Good Reason" is produced for the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and is broadcast in partnership with public radio stations in Virginia, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. It is the only statewide public radio program in Virginia.