Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Joe Manchin
Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $176,143 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for West Virginia University (WVU). The funding will support critical research into diagnosing medical conditions with ambiguous symptoms to help prevent inaccurate diagnoses and advance scientific understanding of rare diseases.
“West Virginia University continues to make our state proud with important scientific research projects,” said Senator Manchin. “I’m pleased the National Science Foundation is supporting our hardworking students, faculty and staff involved with advancing our understanding of rare medical diagnoses. This critical project will help save lives by preventing future inaccuracies and delays in diagnosing West Virginians and Americans with health conditions that are difficult to identify. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will continue advocating for resources to support scientific research across the Mountain State.”
Missed, delayed, or inaccurate medical diagnoses are responsible for up to 80,000 hospital deaths in the United States each year. Some medical conditions are difficult to diagnose because symptoms are ambiguous or easy to confuse with other conditions, which contributes to diagnostic errors. This is especially the case for rare diseases with which physicians may not have much experience. This project will examine factors associated with delays and inaccuracies in diagnoses and help reduce health disparities related to these errors.