Sharon Casapulla, EdD, MPH

Casapulla has 30 years of experience in a variety of educational settings and capacities including teaching, professional development, curriculum development, educational research and program evaluation. Currently, Casapulla is the director of the Rural and Urban Scholars Pathways (RUSP) program in the Office of Rural and Underserved Programs at the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio University. Her research and service include work in and with rural and urban communities locally in southeastern Ohio and internationally.

Since 2013, Casapulla has collaborated with the Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute to lead service learning programs and conduct community-engaged health research in rural Ecuador. Her scholarly interests include how integration of art and narrative into medical school curricula can help students develop competencies for underserved practice.

She was selected to participate in the 2020 Harvard Macy fellowship in Art-Museum Based Health Professions Education.  

Casapulla leads the Open Book Project, a narrative medicine initiative for HCOM medical students in their pre-clinical years. She also serves as the faculty advisor for the Student National Medical Association at the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Casapulla has lived in Athens Ohio for 20 years and is currently the co-president of the newly established Ohio Rural Health Association.