WVU Walk with a Future Doc Program hosts second annual Pediatric Day

Children and their families in the Morgantown community are invited to gather for exercise, games and wellness education with West Virginia University School of Medicine physicians and students on Saturday, Oct. 21, from 10 – 11:30 a.m. at Star City Riverfront Park.

The WVU Walk with a Future Doc program is hosting its second annual Pediatric Day event, open for families with children of all ages and any community members interested in getting active.

This free event will begin with a brief talk titled “Keeping Kids Healthy: Pediatric Health Screening!” led by Courtney Pilkerton, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor for the Department of Family Medicine. Following her presentation, there will be a group walk along the Rail Trail where participants are encouraged to engage in informal and informative conversations with School of Medicine M.D. students and WVU Medicine healthcare providers.

Following the group walk, healthy snacks will be provided for participants. A variety of games and activities for children will then be hosted at the Riverfront Gazebo, located near mile marker 6.7 of the Mon River Rail-Trail at Star City Riverfront Park.

Leah Rebarber, a second-year medical student at WVU who also serves as the communications director for the Walk with a Future Doc program at the University, said she and her fellow student officers are looking forward to the event and hope to host more similar events in the future.

“We’re excited to host Pediatric Day again this year and look forward to having families join us for another morning of fun, exercise and wellness education,” Rebarber said. “We hope that we can continue to host more events like this in the future and encourage more members of the community to join us for our walks.”

Walk with a Future Doc is a student-led program at the WVU School of Medicine, which hosts walks on the first and third Saturdays of each month during the academic year. The walks are held in a hybrid format, giving participants the opportunity to walk as a group in person at Star City Riverfront Park, or to walk along with the group at home virtually via Zoom.

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, visit their Facebook and Instagram pages.

To learn more about all of the student programs available at the School of Medicine, visit medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/md-student-services/organizations.