WHEELING — When it comes to success in the medical field, look no further than the Caveney family of Wheeling.

First there is Dr. James Caveney, a renowned local orthodontist who was the first West Virginia University graduate and West Virginian to serve as president of the American Association of Orthodontists.

Then there are his sons, Scott and Brian, and his daughter, Susan. All three are graduates of WVU’s dental and medical schools.

Brian also holds a law degree from WVU, and a master’s in public health administration.

And if you’ve been watching Gov. Jim Justice’s daily addresses to West Virginia on the COVID-19 outbreak, you know that Dr. Brian Caveney has never forgotten his home state or the education he obtained here.

Caveney, 46, is chief medical officer and president of LabCorp Diagnostics in North Carolina. LabCorp and Caveney have been in the headlines as the company is a leading provider of COVID-19 testing. The company ramped up production to meet the growing need for testing and now performs 60,000 to 65,000 tests per day.

After state officials approached LabCorp for testing, Gov. Jim Justice, during a recent COVID-19 briefing, noted that Caveney is making sure West Virginia has the tests it needs for all nursing home facilities.

“It’s really an honor to be involved in this because most of the time people don’t think that much about labs,” Caveney said. “Because there is no actual treatment for COVID-19, it’s important to have good diagnostics.”

LabCorp has facilities in 60 countries, most of which are deeply dedicated to clinical research, Caveney noted.

He believes that public policies such as isolation and quarantining are effective and should be adhered to in order to flatten the curve.

“Ultimately a vaccine with billions of doses would be a solution once and for all. In the interim, a host of research is being done on a variety of different types of medications that can help at various stages of the disease. Some affect the virus and some your immune system.”

Caveney, who graduated from WVU with dual degrees in law and medicine, is the only medical doctor among LabCorp’s 65,000 lab techs and scientists, said his father Dr. Jim Caveney of Wheeling.

The younger Caveney said he has great admiration for WVU and its research. “I spent a lot of time in Morgantown earning degrees. WVU is doing great things. It is the crown jewel of the state,” he said.

(Ziegler can be contacted at hziegler@theintelligencer.net)