THE COMPASSIONATE RESPONSE

Susan Margaret Murphy

President, West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute

SUPERPOWER: Building toward a vision

When she was a child, Susan Margaret Murphy thought she might be a veterinarian. Then, law school was in the picture. Finally, she landed in higher education, where she worked for 26 years. But once she started working with the School of Pharmacy at the University of Charleston, her career made yet another pivot.

“I did some work with some of our pharmacy faculty and students,” she says. “And got involved with the response to the opioid crisis through that pathway.” By the time she came across a position with the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute (WVDII), Murphy was deeply passionate about responding to the opioid crisis and had even responded to an overdose herself. “I just felt like it was the move I needed to make,” she says.

Now, as the president of WVDII, Murphy spends her days leading a team that talks to youth and families about medication safety and also empowers communities to be good bystanders who can respond with life-saving Naloxone if an overdose occurs. She describes these parts of her work as “bookends”—if children learn early how to be responsible with medication, there will hopefully be fewer folks who need help later in life.

Although she was born in New York and grew up in Detroit, Murphy considers herself a true Appalachian after her years in West Virginia, and she’s hopeful about where her state is headed. “The opportunity we have to highlight West Virginia as a place where we are solving this crisis, a model for the rest of the United States, is really important to me,” she says. “I think there’s a perception sometimes about West Virginia or Appalachia, and I think those of us who are doing this work, and a lot of the women you’re recognizing as West Virginia Wonder Women, they’re showing what Appalachia really is.”

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Learn more about our Wonder Women

Since 2014 WV Living magazine has been honoring West Virginia Wonder Women, amazing women who are raising the bar in their communities, serving as beacons of light in their industries, and forcing change for the greater good. WV Living is proud to celebrate these Appalachian mothers, millennials, and mavens proving that in a time full of uncertainty, divisiveness, and hate, love for one another is all we really need. No need for bulletproof bracelets or a golden lasso of truth—these women are creating a better West Virginia with their can-do attitudes and Mountain State spirit.