Christine Brennan, MSN, PhD
Dr, Brennan’s initial work focused on the care and treatment of individuals at risk for or people living with HIV (PLWH) and expanded to include other public health issues that are associated with behavior driven infectious disease (STI, HCV, Syphilis). Christine has used her clinical and systems knowledge to direct various community-based research projects on the quality of life related to cancer and vulnerable children on the gulf coast. Areas of Specialization: HIV, STI, Community Based Research Infectious Disease Public Health, Health Policy, Nursing, Prevention, Professional Education 

Amber Brown, MPH, CHES
Ms. Brown’s research includes viewing microaggressive experiences of students of color in graduate degree programs and the impact on their mental health and degree progression.

Stephanie Broyles, PhD
Dr. Broyles research has shifted from an early interest in HIV/AIDS epidemiology to a focus on the epidemiology of physical activity and obesity, primarily in pediatric populations. Within this area, her research also seeks to understand contextual (e.g., neighborhood, school, policy) influences on these health and behavioral targets and on longitudinal changes in them, in both observational and interventional settings. Her research was featured in the 2012 HBO documentary series, “The Weight of the Nation.” Dr. Broyles’s work relies heavily on community engagement, and frequently integrates research and service. She brings this approach to her work as co-Director of the Community Outreach and Engagement Resource Core for the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center, a collaboration among all major academic, research, and health care institutions in Louisiana. Methodologically, she has expertise in investigating environmental determinants of health using spatial methods and geographically-linked variables, as well as in multilevel statistical analysis, and she enjoys collaborating on research projects that use novel analytic or study-design techniques.

Michael D. Celestin, Jr., PhD, MA, CHES, CTTS
Dr. Michael Celestin conducts population health and health services research to prevent cancer by promoting tobacco cessation at the patient, clinician, and healthcare system levels. Dr. Celestin uses novel methods and innovative study designs for effective theory-driven behavioral intervention research and the latest dissemination and implementation science to accelerate evidence-based tobacco use treatment in safety net healthcare delivery systems. His research contributes to eliminating tobacco-related cancers, chronic diseases, and health disparities for underrepresented high-prevalence tobacco users in Louisiana.

Richard Culbertson, PhD
Dr. Culbertson is currently engaged in research on the dissemination of robotic assisted surgery (RAS) and its availability to all patients who might benefit from these procedures as an option to open or laparoscopic surgery. He is on site at Intuitive Surgical Co., the largest producer of such devices globally. While at Intuitive, he is charged with developing and operationalizing a Center of Excellence for Health Policy and Patient Access. Current projects include (1)health equity and patient access research, outlining determinants of health challenging global health and systems; (2)Synthesizing, informing and enriching health policy discussions; (3) Shaping and optimizing payment/funding incentives to address adoption barriers and utilization of RAS; (4) Investigating innovative implementation practice programs to assess barriers to receipt of RAS services from the vantage of equity of access.

Denise Moore Danos, PhD
Dr. Danos is a biostatistician with a prolific research and publication record. Her focus is experimental design and data analysis in observational research, with expertise in large scale data collection and consolidation, generalized linear models and multilevel models. Dr. Danos’ research has centered around social and built environmental factors in chronic health conditions and other public health outcomes. Much of this work has focused on socioeconomic and regional disparities in cancer in Louisiana. Additionally, she has contributed to investigations of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted trends in traumatic assaults in the greater New Orleans area and determinants of COVID-19 testing strategies in southern US states. Dr. Danos is part of the biostatistics core at the LSUHSC Cancer Center and collaborates with investigators in the school of medicine regarding study design, power and sample size calculation, statistical analyses, and dissemination of results.

Jennifer Glick, PhD
Dr. Jennifer L. Glick (she/her) is an Associate Professor and the Nolan Endowed Professor of Women’s Health and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH) in the Department of Health Behavior and Society, where she completed the drug dependence and epidemiology (DDET) postdoctoral fellowship. Dr. Glick has worked for 20 years on socio-structural factors that influence health disparities, frequently HIV/AIDS-focused, particularly among multiply marginalized sexual and gender minorities and other stigmatized populations. She is motivated by a desire to improve population health nationally and globally, a pursuit of justice, interdisciplinary collaborations, and community-engaged research utilizing mixed-methods approaches., Areas of Specialization: Women’s health, LGBTQ health, HIV-prevention, substance use, mixed-methods.  

Randi Kaufman, DrPH
Public health practitioner and educator with over 20 years of experience of designing, implementing, and evaluating disease prevention and early detection programs. For the past 15 years, I have dedicated my professional life to decreasing unnecessary suffering and death by implementing promising and evidence-based interventions for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers. I approach my work from an implementation science point of view with an emphasis on process, outcome and impact evaluation and quality improvement in order to create effective, sustainable, scalable and replicable programs. 

Claudia Leonardi, PhD
Dr. Claudia Leonardi is a biostatistician with more than 20 years of research experience in various settings. She consulted and collaborated on numerous projects in the basic, clinical and population sciences, and I have therefore acquired extensive experience in a variety of statistical areas. She currently collaborates with the Departments of Surgery and Orthopedics within the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health by providing study design and statistical support to progress ideas into projects/grants and papers.

Henry Nuss, PhD
Dr. Henry Nuss is the Director of Testing, Measurement and Evaluation for the Southeast and Southwest Louisiana Area Health Education Centers. Dr. Nuss’ research interests are in obesity prevention, metabolic syndrome and other related chronic conditions in disparate communities, as well as quality improvement for local, statewide and national public health initiatives.

Stephen Phillippi, Jr., PhD, LCSW, CCFC
Dr. Phillippi’s research focuses on identifying needs and gaps in behavioral health and justice systems, informing policy and practice changes to support research driven prevention and intervention, and employing implementation science to develop translational methods that disseminate such programming to scale in a sustainable fashion. These efforts have been published in peer-reviewed literature, textbooks, and/or converted into monographs, curricula, and technical reports to reach a multi-disciplinary group of practitioners, scholars, policy makers, and administrators in Louisiana and nationally. He leads research at two nationally recognized Centers for the School of Public Health—the Center for Evidence to Practice and the Institute for Public Health & Justice.

William Robinson, PhD
Dr. Robinson’s training is in experimental and quantitative methods in Psychology and he is an expert in many statistical techniques including multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, and geographic information systems. Dr. Robinson’s research involves the behavioral, epidemiologic and structural factors that place people at risk for diseases such as HIV/AIDS. He is currently lead the Louisiana arm of the CDC funded National HIV Risk Behavioral Surveillance, a study of HIV risk behaviors in a sample of populations at high risk in New Orleans, and has led the NHBS study since its inception. Dr. Robinson holds a joint appointment as the Research and Evaluation Manager for the Louisiana Department of Health’s Office of Public Health STD/HIV/Hepatitis Program (SHHP). In this role he has completed evaluation and implementation science studies including an OAH funded statewide teen pregnancy prevention evaluation, developed methods to evaluate the impact on the Louisiana HIV/AIDS epidemic following the diaspora caused by Hurricane Katrina, assessed the impact of structural changes including alcohol outlet policies on the geographic distribution of HIV and STD cases and a PCORI study to increase resilience among LGBT individuals. He is also the Lead Evaluator for all HIV Prevention, Surveillance, and Services state programs including the recent PrIDE and THRIVE HIV prevention demonstration projects to increase uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), utilization of data-to-care strategies, and to provide behavioral health and social services to men who have sex with men as well as the current Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative.

Dean G. Smith, PhD
Dr. Smith’s research aims to provide a better understanding of the financial aspects of health care operations and public health programs. Current projects include assessment of the cost-effectiveness of nursing interventions for patients with heart failure and the economic impact of hospitals on their communities.

Benjamin Springgate, MD, MPH
Dr. Springgate conducts community-partnered participatory research on policy-relevant topics including expanding and improving care for opioid use disorder, integrating behavioral health into primary care settings, and building resilience in communities threatened by climate change and disasters. With this research, he advises policymakers at local, state, and federal levels on matters relating to the opioid overdose crisis, improving care for incarcerated and reentry populations, climate and health, behavioral health strategies for Medicaid and Medicare, pandemic responses, and public health decision-making.

Tung-Sung Tseng, DrPH, MS, CHES/MCHES
Dr. Tseng’s research focuses on understanding the disparities and elucidating the determinants of health behaviors to change unhealthy/risky behaviors among ethnic minorities and underserved populations. His expertise includes cancer, tobacco control, obesity, health disparities, genetic and behavioral interactions, community-based participatory research (CBPR), implementation sciences, community/ behavioral intervention, and evaluation methods (social media, big data, GIS, AI, and smart devices).

Ashley Wennerstrom, PhD
For the past 15 years, Dr. Wennerstrom has conducted community-engaged research with a focus on community health worker (CHW) policy, interventions, and workforce development, as well as the link between incarceration and health. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers and four book chapters. Her work has been supported by over 30 grants and contracts from CDC, HRSA, OMH, NIH, PCORI, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), and other agencies. 

Donna Williams, MS, MPH, DrPH
For over 20 years, Dr. Williams’s research has focused on cancer health disparities and gaps in cancer prevention and control efforts. In 2002, she assumed leadership of the Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program, focusing on screening services for under- and uninsured low-income women in Louisiana funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That single program expanded to become the Louisiana Cancer Prevention & Control Programs (LCP), a group of research and practice programs that focus on cancers that are preventable or can be detected early and cured. LCP continues to be funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other organizations. While most of this work has been based upon prevention and early detection at the community level, it has been her philosophy to lay translational and interventional research on top of these programs whenever possible. The majority of her work focuses on removing barriers to cancer screening and early detection. While this is important in general, a further focus is on underserved and under-resourced populations including underserved minorities, under-and uninsured people, the working poor, and rural populations.

Partial listing of sponsored research projects and service programs in which the CHSP faculty are currently involved:

Faculty members in CHSP work with leadership and administrators of the CDC, SAMHSA, NIH, DOJ, OJJDP, and more at the federal level. At the state level, faculty work with providers and leadership within the Louisiana Department of Health, Department of Corrections, Office of Juvenile Justice, Department of Children and Family Services, Office of Public Health, Office of Maternal Child Health, Office of Behavioral health, Medicaid, and many more. Locally and regionally, faculty members work closely with organizations focused on preventing cancer and STIs to ensure state of the art treatment is available to infected persons throughout the region. We also direct institutes and centers:

Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Control Programs
Even before the School of Public Health officially became a school, LSU Health New Orleans was leading the charge in cancer prevention and research. Dr. Elizabeth Fontham, the School’s founding dean, completed the first U.S. case-control study demonstrating the increased risk that tobacco smoke poses to non-smokers. That landmark study and her further work eventually led the Environmental Protection Agency to classify secondhand smoke as a carcinogen, laid the groundwork for smoke-free laws and propelled her into the top position at the American Cancer Society, making her its first-ever non-physician president. That ground-breaking cancer work continues at LSU Health New Orleans today, with much of it coming under the auspices of LCP, a series of programs, projects and studies funded mainly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). LCP’s mission is to “eliminate suffering and death in Louisiana by focusing on cancers that can be prevented or detected early and cured,” and currently covers breast, cervical and HPV, colorectal, lung and other tobacco-related cancers. With its approximate $18 million in grants, LCP is heading the following efforts:The Louisiana Breast & Cervical Health Program; Screen Up; HPV studies; Louisia Colorectal Cancer Roundtable; Survivorship Plans; and more. 

Center for Healthcare Value & Equity
The Center for Healthcare Value & Equity (CHVE) was formed in collaboration with the Louisiana Department of Health to provide education, research, and evaluation regarding healthcare value and health equity in Louisiana and nationally. The CHVE research and evaluation projects assess new and existing state programs and policies. Previous and current projects cover a diverse range of topics important to improving the health of all Louisianans.

Center for Evidence to Practice
At the Center we envision a Louisiana where all individuals have access to a high quality, responsive and effective behavioral health system delivered by a well-trained workforce. We achieve this through the Center’s mission to support Louisiana and its agencies, organizations, communities, and providers in the selection and implementation of research-driven behavioral health interventions while understanding and helping to address challenges related to sustaining quality practice that promotes well-being and improves outcomes. As one aspect of the center, our research focuses on examining the behavioral health workforce, assessing gaps and needs in Louisiana’s mental health and substance use services array, and exploring impact through Medicaid claims analyses and provider surveys- using implementation science frameworks. This work is funded by LDH, OBH, Medicaid, SAMHSA, and other entities.

Institute for Public Health & Justice
The Institute is a policy, research, training, and technical assistance enterprise positioned at the intersection of behavioral health policy and practice, and the legal system. Many behavioral and other health conditions have social determinants. At the Institute, we seek to bridge the divide between prevention and treatment of behavioral health issues and the negative impacts on individuals, families, communities, and the justice systems. The agency has a diverse funding portfolio including, but not limited to, DOJ, OJJDP, SAMHSA, BJA, MacFound, the Public Welfare Foundation, RWJF, and more. Its research has included examining the age of criminal responsibility, justice reform initiatives, status offender interventions, screening and assessment, evidence-based treatments, school safety, police and public health, justice data collection and reporting, mentoring, holistic public defense models, diversion, and much more.

STD/HIV/Hepatitis Program
he STD/HIV/Hepatitis Program (SHHP) administers statewide evidence-based public health services and interventions intended to prevent the transmission of STDs, HIV, and viral Hepatitis, and to ensure timely access to quality medical/treatment and supportive social services for those diagnosed with an STD, HIV, or Hepatitis. SHHP’s Vision is for Louisiana to be a place where new HIV, STD, and hepatitis diagnoses are rare; all people have high-quality health care and treatment, are free from discrimination, and can achieve their full potential for health and well-being across their lifespans. SHHP’s mission is to end the impacts of HIV, STIs, and Hepatitis and related health inequities and stigma for all communities in Louisiana.

South Central AIDS Education & Training Center
The South Central AIDS Education & Training Center (SCAETC) is one of the regional offices of the AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) Program. The AETC Program is the professional training arm of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. One of the largest and most comprehensive professional education programs dedicated to HIV/AIDS, the AETC Program was developed by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Public Health Service, and the Department of Health and Human Services to provide customized, multi-disciplinary training programs for healthcare providers treating persons living with HIV/AIDS. LSU Health – New Orleans serves as the Regional Partner Sites here in Louisiana.

Tobacco Control Initiative
Since 2004, the Louisiana Tobacco Control Initiative (LA-TCI), housed within the LSU Health – New Orleans, School of Public Health, has promoted a multi-level, translational, and transdisciplinary approach to cessation services and research. Grounded by the US Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, the LA-TCI employs the aforementioned approach at the recommended system, clinic and patient levels of healthcare. The initiative receives support funding from the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium. Its vision is to position the LA-TCI as a national leader in the creation and application of knowledge through health systems services and research benefiting Louisianans. Its mission is to provide care for the most medically vulnerable residents, including low-income, under- and uninsured, less educated, and minority populations.

News & Announcements

Announcements

Dr. Celestin was inducted into the LSU Health New Orleans Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health, Alpha Psi Chapter.

Dr. Tung-Sung Tseng received the 2022 Dr. Allen A. Copping Award for Excellence in Teaching at the School of Public Health, LSU Health New Orleans

Latest Articles

FDA Announces Plans for Proposed Rule to Reduce Addictiveness of Cigarettes and Other Combusted Tobacco Products

9 Best Ways to Quit Smoking

Michael Celestin Jr., Ph.D. Receives LA CaTS Career Development Award to Address Tobacco Use Treatment in Rural Populations

Michael Celestin, Jr., Ph.D. selected as RISE Scholar

Statistics about youth tobacco use from the most recent National Youth Tobacco Survey
https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/youth-and-tobacco/results-annual-national-youth-tobacco-survey

Statistics about adult tobacco use from the most recent National Health Interview Survey
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6845a2.htm?s_cid=mm6845a2_w

Submit Comments on Tobacco Products
Make your voice heard and be part of the ongoing effort to improve public health in the United States.

https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/products-guidance-regulations/submit-comments-tobacco-products

Our Research

The studies listed on this site have been approved by the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans Human Subjects Research Protection Program (HRPP) and the Institutional Review Board (IRB), which works to ensure and protect the rights and welfare of individuals participating in research.

Why should you participate? Participating in research allows you to help yourself as well as humanity. You can receive help and support to quit tobacco and help us learn how to help others in your community.

Eligibility: For questions about a specific study and eligibility requirements, please call or email Ty-Runet Bryant at 504-568-5705 or tbrya9@lsuhsc.edu

Active Studies

QuiPS

Title: Quit Intervention for Pregnant/Postpartum Smokers
Principal Investigator: Michael Celestin, Jr., Ph.D.
Purpose: Quips is a research study focused on helping WIC participants 18 and older who are pregnant or up to 6 months postpartum and current smokers quit.

Procedures:

• Complete 2-6 short phone calls where you will answer questions and listen to messages
• You will receive a gift card

Eligibility:

• 18 years of age or older
• Smoke regular or electronic cigarettes, vaping devices currently or in the past 2 years
• Pregnant or had a baby up to 6 months ago
• Have a smartphone or cell phone

Open for enrollment in the Fall of 2022!

Asthma/COPD

Title: Using FeNO Test Monitoring as a Health Risk Communication Tool to Promote Smoking Cessation for Smokers Diagnosed with Asthma and/or COPD
Principal Investigator: Michael Celestin, Jr., Ph.D.
Purpose: FeNO is a research study using biomedical feedback to promote quitting among current smokers diagnosed with Asthma and/or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (A/COPD)

Procedures:

• Participate in phone interviews and surveys and complete an intervention
• You will receive a loadable ClinCard for each interview completed and for completing the cessation intervention

Eligibility:

• 18 years of age or older
• Current diagnosis of Asthma and/or COPD
• Ability to complete FeNO test
• Willingness to adhere to the study intervention regimen

Open for enrollment in the Fall of 2022!

Title: Surveying Patterns of Tobacco Use among Patients and Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior of Clinicians in Louisiana’s Hospitals
Principal Investigator: Michael Celestin, Jr., Ph.D.
Purpose: To assess patient tobacco use, perceptions of provider tobacco treatment, and quit attempts within Louisiana’s safety-net public hospital system and compare them to baseline data; nurse and physician and nurse knowledge, attitude and behavior with regard to smoking cessation assistance and counseling.

Title: Assessing Awareness and Implementation of the US PHS Tobacco Use Treatment Guideline among FQHCs
Principal Investigator: Michael Celestin, Jr. ,Ph.D.
Purpose: Administer a baseline assessment to assess awareness and implementation of the US Public Health Service clinical practice guideline for tobacco use treatment among Federally Qualified Heath care Centers in Louisiana in preparation for integrating comprehensive tobacco treatment services for their patients.

Title: Assessing the Effectiveness of Clinic-Based Tobacco Control Programs
Principal Investigator: Michael Celestin, Jr., Ph.D.
Purpose: Assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of clinic-based smoking cessation interventions using retrospective data from electronic health records for multiple provider systems.

Title: Disparities in the Utilization of Evidence-Based Tobacco Cessation Services in a Public Hospital System
Principal Investigator: Michael Celestin, Jr. Ph.D.
Purpose: The purpose of the study is to develop, within the Louisiana public hospital system, a profile of adult tobacco users who chose group behavioral counseling as a method for quitting.

Completed Research Studies

Title: Using Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) lung cancer screening to increase smoking cessation among African-Americans
Principal Investigator: Tung-Sung Tseng, DrPH
Purpose: A first step to explore and address the smoking cessation needs of at-risk African American smokers undergoing lung cancer screening using the Theory of Planned Behavior to expand our understanding of the ideal teachable moment and content (barriers and facilitators) for a smoking cessation intervention in a lung cancer screening context.

Title: Improving Tobacco Cessation Services for HIV Patients
Principal Investigator: Sarah Moody-Thomas, Ph.D.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to obtain information about effective methods of incorporating tobacco cessation services through the Tobacco Control Initiative (TCI) that are designed specifically for HIV positive smokers.

Our Study Team

Michael D. Celestin, Jr., Ph.D., CHES, NCTTS Principal Investigator Director, Louisiana Tobacco Control Initiative mceles@lsuhsc.edu Dr. Michael Celestin is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health.  He is also the Director of the Louisiana Tobacco Control Initiative.  His research expertise is in the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based health systems change policies and interventions to ensure cessation treatment for low socio-economic groups most likely to use tobacco and suffer from tobacco-related disabilities, diseases, and deaths. Dr. Celestin recently received a Roadmap Scholars Award from the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center (LA CaTS).  His project is entitled “Promoting Implementation of Interventions to Improve Tobacco Cessation in Healthcare (PITCH) for Rural Populations.”

Tyra T. Gross, Ph.D., MPH Co-Investigator tgross@xula.edu Dr. Tyra Toston Gross is an Associate Professor of Public Health at Xavier University of Louisiana, where she has worked as a public health instructor, researcher, and mentor since August 2015. Before joining Xavier, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in reproductive women’s health at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Her research expertise is in maternal & child health disparities.  Given her interest in maternal & child health, the majority of Dr. Gross’ research has focused on the health of reproductive-age women. Her current research projects explore the health of Black postpartum women in Louisiana, infant & young child feeding during emergencies, and smoking cessation needs for low-income pregnant women.

Tung-Sung Tseng, DrPH, MS Co-Investigator ttseng@lsuhsc.edu Dr. Tung-Sung Tseng is an Associate Professor with tenure and the Charles L. Brown, MD, Endowed Professor of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the School of Public Health at LSU Health New Orleans. His research interests include tobacco control, childhood obesity, gene-environment interaction, risk behavioral patterns, community-based participatory research (CBPR), health promotion interventions and evaluations, health disparities, and cancer prevention among ethnic minorities and underserved populations. He serves as a lead evaluator of the Louisiana Tobacco Control Initiative.

Claire Hayes Watson, Ph.D., MPH Co-Investigator

Qingzhao Yu, Ph.D. Co-Investigator qyu@lsuhsc.edu Dr. Qingzhao Yu is a Professor of Biostatistics at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health. Dr. Yu is interested in developing statistical methods for public health, health care, and clinical and lab research. She has published over a hundred peer-reviewed papers on statistical methodology development and collaborations. Dr. Yu’s research interests include Bayesian Modeling, Bayesian Clinical Trial, Causal Effect Analysis, Computational Method, Health Disparities, Machine Learning and Data Mining, Mediation Analysis, Spatial Analysis, and Survey Research.  She serves as the Lead Biostatistician of the Louisiana Tobacco Control Initiative.

Ty-Runet Bryant, MPH Research Program Manager tbrya9@lsuhsc.edu Ty-Runet Bryant serves as the Program Manager for Research for the Louisiana Tobacco Control Initiative at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Public Health in New Orleans, LA. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Loyola University New Orleans and an MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She has over 15 years of experience implementing, monitoring, and evaluating community-based health initiatives, leading community outreach efforts, and coordinating the submission of program and research grant proposals.

Welcome!  Here is the latest from the committee.

The School of Public Health Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee would like to thank all of those who participated in our first virtual Photo Essay Exhibition: Images of Justice/Injustice in Louisiana.

We appreciated the open and honest conversation that resulted during this event honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who led a revolution in values with an expansive vision. The photo essays we received from faculty, staff and students across LSUHSC spoke to the call for action to ‘eradicate social and racial disparities in healthcare’; the power of storytelling in cultivating empathy for one another; the dreams and hopes of youth; the protests following the murder of George Floyd; book stores as community spaces; and much more.

And yet, one of the many things that stuck out during the virtual event was how though we spoke about New Orleans, though the project was about Louisiana, the ideas and realities of injustice shared amongst the audience extended beyond this space and led to conversations about global issues showing us once again, how we’re more connected than we think.

COVID & Stigma Video

Committee members Hasheemah Afaneh and Lindsay Simpson recently completed a project to look at not just the effects COVID 19 may have on one’s physical health, but some of the underlying health issues associated with racism and discrimination that have also surfaced since the outbreak.

The result is a three and half minute video highlighting how past pandemics showed underlying racism in all aspects of life, how this is affecting Asian populations now and touches on ways that Public Health workers, and indeed everyone, can help.

Please watch and share COVID 19 and Stigma.

Join us in 2022-2023 every month starting in September! See the attached list to know what we’re reading this year!

The SPH DEI Committee wrapped up this academic year’s book club in conversation with Sandro Galea, epidemiologist, writer and author, and Dean of Boston University School of Public Health. If you missed it, check out the conversation below. You’ll hear from Dr. Galea and the audience!

This year, we’ll be alternating between books and a variety of podcast episodes. We’ll reconvene every 2^nd Wednesday, starting September 2023 to talk about The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth and Power by Diedre Mask. Check out the details below.

Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 12pm CST
Zoom Registration here.

Consider supporting your public library to access these books, the public library’s app called Libby to access audiobooks, or locally-owned bookshops Baldwin and Co. or Community Book Center on Bayou Road.”

Check out our Book Club 2020 Year in Review here

Other recent selections Include Becoming by Michelle Obama, Maid by Stephanie Land,  Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez, Educated by Tara Westover, The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the 21^st Century edited by Alice Wong, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Solitary by Albert Woodfox, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Morris, The Deepest Well: Long-term Effects of Childhood Adversity by Nadine Burke Harris, Our Women On the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World edited by Zahra Hankirand, and others.

For more information, email Hasheemah Afaneh, MPH at hafane@lsuhsc.edu or sphdiversity@lsuhsc.edu.

About the Committee

The committee strives to increase diversity, inclusion and equity in public health education, research, and practice with a focus on both individuals and populations, regardless of race, ethnicity, economic status, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, political affiliation, veteran status or national origin.  It works across all aspects of the SPH:  the classroom, the workplace, research and public health practice.  Membership includes 20 staff, students, faculty and administrators, and representation across all programs.

SPH Diversity & Inclusion Committee Reports

Presentation by Committee Chair – June 12, 2020

Climate Survey Presentation Meeting Recording – June 12, 2020 (Password:5Q^#A6+6 )

Climate Survey Report – Part 1

Climate Survey Report – Part 2

Anonymous Reporting

If you have witnessed or experienced acts of harassment or discrimination, simply visit the School of Public Health Ethics & Integrity webpage to report an incident. Reports may be filed at www.lsu.ethicspoint.com or toll-free at 855-561-4099.

Contact Information

Tung-Sung Tseng, DrPH, MS, CHES/MCHES, Committee Chair
Lisa V., Staples, MPH, CHES
sphdiversity@lsuhsc.edu 

Resources

American Public Health Association (APHA) on Racism and Health
Race and Cultural Diversity in American Life and History Free online course offered by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera
Conscious Roots radio and blog
Xavier University’s Center for Equity, Justice, and the Human Spirit
National Academies’ Report on Sexual Harassment in Academic Science, Engineering and Medicine