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Tekeda Ferguson, MPH, MSPH, CHES, PHD

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Curriculum Vitae: TFERG4.CV.PDF

Epidemiology & Population Health (EPPH)

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The mission of the Epidemiology and Population Health Program is to reduce health inequities among population groups by exploring determinants of health factors such as social structures, the environment, health behaviors, resource distribution, quality gaps, policy impacts, (etc.) on clinical outcomes and community health. Our graduates, students, and faculty work in interdisciplinary teams to inform policy and clinical practice in order to improve the health of the individual and society.

Population health is defined as the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group. Epidemiology is the scientific study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, serving as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine. Epidemiology is considered a cornerstone of population health and the methodology of public health research, and is highly regarded in evidence-based medicine for identifying risk factors for disease and determining optimal treatment approaches to clinical practice.

Students will acquire skills in: data collection, data analysis and interpretation, disease surveillance systems, epidemiologic methods, managerial epidemiology, population health improvement, study design, and statistical software. Our program’s expertise in research and public health practice focuses in the following areas: Cancer, Environmental Health, Infectious Diseases, Health Systems Analysis, HIV & STD, Population Health Management, and Social Determinants of Health.

Our program prepares students for jobs across the fields of health: health care (including managed care), and research, in academia, local, regional, and national government agencies and departments of public health, hospital and healthcare systems, private industry, and community and not-for-profit organizations.

Our graduates acquire a diverse skill set that enables them to improve the health of the population in the clinic and the community.

Faculty:
Ferguson, Tekeda Associate Professor & Program Director
Chiu, Yu-wen Assistant Professor
Elewonibi, Reni Assistant Professor
Honore, Peggy Professor & Director of the Population Health Management Clerkship
Hsieh, Mei-Chin Associate Professor
Levitzky, Elizabeth Assistant Professor & BSPH Program Director
Straif-Bourgeois, Susanne Associate Professor
Trapido, Edward Professor & Interim Dean
Wendell, Deborah Assistant Professor
Wu, Xiao Cheng Professor & Director of the Louisiana Tumor Registry
Program contact:

Tekeda F. Ferguson, PhD, MSPH
Associate Professor
Email: tferg4@lsuhsc.edu

Admissions contact:

Mei-Chin Hsieh, PhD, MSPH
Associate Professor
Phone: (504) 568-5850; Email: epid_admissions@lsuhsc.edu

Distance to radiation therapy facility influences surgery type among older women with early-stage breast cancer

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Pratibha Shrestha,Quyen D. Chu,Mei-Chin Hsieh,Yong Yi,Edward S. Peters,Edward Trapido,Qingzhao Yu,Tekeda Ferguson,Xiao-Cheng Wu

Breast-conserving surgery plus radiation (BCT) yields equivalent or better survival than mastectomy for early-stage breast cancer (ESBC) women. However, nationwide mastectomy trends increased in recent decades, attracting studies on underlying causes. Prior research identified that long distance to the radiation treatment facility (RTF) was associated with mastectomy. Still, it is unclear whether such association applies to young and old ESBC women comparably. We sought to delineate such impacts by age.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Publications

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Publications

Thomas, S.M., Horswell, R., Celestin, M.D., Dellinger, A.B., Kaiser, M., Butler, M. (2010). Awareness and Implementation of the 2000 US Public Health Service Tobacco Dependence Treatment Guideline in a Public Hospital System. Population Health Management; 14(2): 79-85. 

Moody-Thomas, S., Celestin, M., Horswell, R. (2013). Use of systems change and health information technology to integrate comprehensive tobacco cessation services in a statewide system for delivery of healthcare. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine; 3: 75-83.  

Moody-Thomas, S., Celestin, M.D., Tseng, T.S., Horswell, R. (2013). Patient tobacco use, quit attempts, and perceptions of healthcare provider practices in a safety-net healthcare system. Ochsner Journal; (13)3: 367-74. 

Purcell, E.P., Mitchell, C., Celestin, M.D., Evans, K.R., Haynes, V., McFall, A., Troyer, L., Sanchez, M.A. (2013). Research to Reality (R2R) Mentorship Program: Building Partnership, Capacity, and Evidence. Health Promotion Practice; 14(3): 321-327. 

Tseng, T.S., Moody-Thomas, S., Horswell, R., Yi, Y., Celestin, M.D., Jones, K.D. (2014). Using a health informatics system to assess effect of a federal cigarette tax increase on readiness to quit among low-income smokers, Louisiana, 2009. Prev Chronic Dis;11: E52. 

Celestin, M.D., Hart, A., Moody-Thomas, S. (2014). Partnering with Health Care Systems to Assess Tobacco Treatment Practices and Beliefs among Clinicians: Evaluating the Process. Preventing Chronic Disease; 11:130277. 

Moody-Thomas, S., Nasuti, L., Yi, Y., Celestin, M.D., Horswell, R., Land, T.G. (2015). Effect of systems change and use of electronic health records on quit rates among tobacco users in a public hospital system. Am J Public Health, Vol. 105, No. S2, pp. e1-e7. 

Celestin, M.D., Tseng, T.S., Moody-Thomas, S., Yi, Y., Jones-Winn, K., Hayes, C., Guillory, D. (2016). Effectiveness of group behavioral counseling on long-term quit rates in primary health care. Transl Cancer Res;5(Suppl 5): S972S982. 

Hayes-Watson, C., Nuss, H., Tseng, T.S., Parada, N., Yu, Q., Celestin, M.D., Guillory, D., Jones-Winn, K., Moody-Thomas, S. (2017). Self-management practices of smokers with asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A cross sectional survey. COPD Research and Practice; 3(3): 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40749-017-0022-0. 

Celestin, M.D., Ferguson, T., Ledford, E.C., Tseng, T.S., Carton, T.W., Moody-Thomas, S. (2018). Differences in Treating Tobacco Use across National, State, and Public Hospital System Surveys. Prev Chronic Dis;15:170575

Hayes-Watson, C., Nuss, H., Celestin, M.D., Tseng, T.S., Parada, N., Yu, Q., Moody-Thomas, S. (2018). Health beliefs associated with poor disease self-management in smokers with asthma and/or COPD. J. Asthma; 1–8. 

Kao, Y.H., Celestin, M.D., Yu, Q., Moody-Thomas, S., Jones Winn, K., Tseng, T.S. (2019). Racial and Income Disparities in Health-Related Quality of Life among Smokers with a Quit Attempt in Louisiana. Medicina (Kaunas); 55(2).

Tseng, T.S., Gross, T., Celestin, M.D., Dang, W., Young, L., Kao, Y.H., Li, M., Smith, D.L., Bok, L.R., Fuloria, J., Moody-Thomas, S. (2019). Knowledge and attitudes towards low dose computed tomography lung cancer screening and smoking among African Americans—a mixed method study. Transl Cancer Res;8(Suppl 4):S431-S442. https://doi: 10.21037/tcr.2019.04.18.

Kao, Y., Celestin, M.D., Walker, C.D., Yu, Q., Couk, J., Moody-Thomas, S., et al. (2019). Smoking Relapse and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus–Related Emergency Department Visits Among Senior Patients with Diabetes. Prev Chronic Dis; 16:190027. 

Luo T, Li MS, Williams D, Phillippi S, Yu Q, Kantrow S, Kao YH, Celestin M, Lin WT, Tseng TS. (2021). Using social media for smoking cessation interventions: a systematic review. Perspect Public Health. Jan;141(1):50-63. Epub 2020 Feb 20. PMID: 32077368

Kao YH, Tseng TS, Celestin MD, Hart J, Young L, Li M, Bok LR, Smith DL, Fuloria J, Moody-Thomas S, Trapido EJ. (2021) Association Between the 5As and Stage of Change Among African American Smokers Eligible for Low-Dose Computed Tomography Screening. Prev Chronic Dis. 2021 Jul 15;18:E71. doi: 10.5888/pcd18.210073. PMID: 34264811; PMCID: PMC8300539.

Tseng TS, Celestin MD Jr, Yu Q, Li M, Luo T, Moody-Thomas S. Use of Geographic Information System Technology to Evaluate Health Disparities in Smoking Cessation Class Accessibility for Patients in Louisiana Public Hospitals. Front Public Health. 2021 Aug 12;9:712635. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.712635. PMID: 34476230; PMCID: PMC8406529.

Celestin Jr MD, Gee RE.  The epidemic during the pandemic: assessing the Federal Drug Administration’s efforts to curb youth smoking after passage of HR2339 by Congress. Am J Public Health. 2022;112(7):1005–1006. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306901.

New Epidemiology Program Director

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December 3, 2021

Congratulations to Dr. Tekeda Ferguson!

Dr. Ferguson is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health. She also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Physiology, School of Medicine and serves as Co-Director of the LSUHSC Comprehensive Alcohol HIV/AIDS Research Center Administrative Core.

Dr. Ferguson received her BS and MPH from Tulane University before receiving her MSPH and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Ferguson completed fellowships sponsored by the American Heart Association and the National Institute of Health National Heart Lung Blood Institute. Dr. Ferguson was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health/Epidemiology in the St. Louis University School of Public Health before joining the LSUHSC School of Public Health in 2011.

Dr. Ferguson is an accomplished scholar, teacher and leader. She serves as PI of a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (P60) grant on Community and Interpersonal Stress, Alcohol, and Chronic Comorbidities Among People Living with HIV. Among her recent publications are: “Associations of Binge Drinking and Heavy Alcohol Use on Sugar and Fat Intake in a Cohort of Southern People Living with HIV,” Alcohol and Alcoholism (2021) and “Skeletal Muscle Bioenergetic Health and Function in People Living with HIV: Association with Glucose Tolerance and Alcohol Use,” American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology (2021). Dr. Ferguson has officially mentored or advised over 50 students, and views teaching as an opportunity to explore new information and share her passion for knowledge and discovery with students. Earlier this year she was awarded an American Heart Association Women STEM Award and membership in Delta Omega – Alpha Psi Chapter, the honorary society in public health. In addition to her many other leadership roles, Dr. Ferguson serves as the chair of the American College of Epidemiology Education Committee.

Coronavirus/Covid-19: A Note from the LSU SPH Epidemiologists

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I know there is much discussion and uncertainty about the threats posed by Coronavirus/Covid-19. Following are some recent and interesting epidemiologic papers on Coronavirus. These papers are some of Dr. Straif-Bourgeois’s favorite reads right now. (Dr. Straif-Bourgeois‘s expertise is Infectious Disease Epidemiology and she is faculty in Epidemiology at the LSU School of Public Health.) There is unfortunately a lot of poor messaging out there now, so we need to be careful consumers of the daily deluge of information. I encourage you to listen to what the respected infectious disease epidemiologists are saying and especially Dr. Anthony Fauci at the NIH. He is highly regarded and trustworthy. Marc Lipsitch at Harvard is also providing a balanced and knowledgeable epidemiologic perspective.

Threats from infectious diseases will never go away and this is why many of us are in public health and epidemiology. This is as real as it gets and reminds us why the earliest schools of public health were schools of sanitation and hygiene. We will eventually get through this, but life will be challenging before it returns to normal. We need to be mindful of our infectious disease epidemiology principles and practice what we learn and teach. We want to flatten the epidemic curve. Social distancing and hand hygiene work.

Be safe, be well!

Edward S. Peters, DMD, SM, ScD, FACE

Professor & Chair, Epidemiology

Pfizer/Salvatore Giorgianni Professor of Health Systems

LSU School of Public Health 

List of Recommended Readings:

SPH Goes Red for Cardiovascular Disease

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Do you know what causes cardiovascular disease in women? What about the survival rate? Or whether women of all ethnicities share the same risk?

The fact is: cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of women, causing 1 in 3 deaths each year. That’s approximately one woman every minute!

But it doesn’t affect all women alike, and the warning signs for women aren’t the same in men. What’s more: These facts only begin to scratch the surface.

There are several misconceptions about heart disease in women, and they could be putting you at risk. The American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement advocates for more research and swifter action for women’s heart health for this very reason. In this section, we’ll arm you with the facts and dispel some myths – because the truth can no longer be ignored.

Learn about the Symptoms of a Heart Attack and Stroke in Women here.

Held on Friday, February 10th National Go Red Friday was led by Dr. Tekeda Ferguson to raise awareness of the No. 1 killer of women at the LSUHSC School of Public Health and across the LSU Health Sciences Center.

Want to know more about Heart Disease in Women go to the American Heart Associations Go Red for Women here.  https://www.goredforwomen.org/en

(Left to Right: Dr. Tekeda Ferguson, Faculty SPH, Ashley Fenton, Ph.D. Student, Hasheemah Afaneh, Alumni & SPH Staff, Allison C. Augustus-Wallace, Faculty SoM, Amber Brown, SPH Staff/Instructor)

Alcohol HIV/AIDS Research Poster Presentations 2019

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The 2019 National Hispanic Science Network Conference gave the opportunity to our LSUHSC SoPH Students and Faculty to present their Posters this past October 9 – 11, 2019.  Dr. Tekeda Ferguson, faculty member and Comprehensive Alcohol HIV/AIDS Research Center Investigator, and epidemiology doctoral student, Erika Rosen, MPH presented work from multiple alcohol projects.

HIV infection continues to disproportionately impact vulnerable populations including racial/ethnic minorities who are at greatest risk of comorbidities.  People living with HIV (PLWH) have a 2-3 fold higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUD), and approximately 8-12% are classified as heavy drinkers. Alcohol misuse can impact HIV disease through decreased adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and increased risk for comorbid conditions.

People living with HIV (PLWH) have a 2-3-fold higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUD), and approximately 8-12% of PLWH are classified as heavy drinkers. This alcohol misuse can impact HIV disease through decreased adherence to antiretroviral therapy and increased risk for comorbid conditions. The WELL program is an evidence-based behavioral intervention consisting of five-sessions designed to reduce alcohol use and risky sexual behavior, improve knowledge of biomedical consequences of alcohol and overall health in PLWH. Our findings suggest that the program is effective after 3 months in improving healthy behavior and adaptive coping strategies that can lead to reduced alcohol use. WELL participants with an HIV diagnosis of <15 years had a significant change in self-efficacy at 3-mos (p-value=0.011). Alcohol use had a statistically significant decrease among WELL participants compared to an increase in average drinks in the treatment as usual group ( -24.23 versus 1.98 Drinks in the last 30 days, respectively) (p-value=0.002).

Liver disease is the 2nd most common non HIV-related cause of death due in PLWH. PLWH and HCV-infected individuals have higher rates of hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The impact of past and current alcohol use on liver injury in PLWH has not been well examined. Hepatic injury was prevalent in the New Orleans Alcohol use in HIV cohort, despite being a relatively virally controlled patient population under care.  LDH was only significantly associated with advanced FIB-4 markers among HIV/HCV coinfected individuals. HCV+ PLWH had higher rates of liver disease than HIV/HCV-. HCV infection did not significantly consistently change the magnitude of association between any of the drinking measures and liver disease markers. Clinicians should consider multiple drinking measures in PLWH when classifying disease risk and recommending treatment options.

Data From the New Orleans Alcohol Use in HIV Study: High-Risk Alcohol Using People Living With HIV and Systemic Oxidative Stress or Inflammation

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Dr. Tekeda Ferguson, LSUHSC School of Public Health Assistant Professor, discusses  how HIV infection is now largely a chronic condition as a result of the success of antiretroviral therapy in her new research study “Reduced Serum Osteocalcin in High-Risk Alcohol Using People Living With HIV Does not Correlate With Systemic Oxidative Stress or Inflammation:  Data From the New Orleans Alcohol Use in HIV Study”. The pathophysiological basis of bone loss in the PLWH population is unclear but has been suggested to be linked to oxidative stress and inflammation. To test the hypothesis that PLWH consuming excessive alcohol have altered markers of bone turnover and/or calcium homeostasis in association with oxidative stress, Dr. James Watt and Ferguson correlated measurements of alcohol consumption with markers of oxidative stress and inflammation, serum calcium concentrations, and measurements of bone turnover, including c-terminal telopeptide cross-links (CTX-1) and osteocalcin.

Data were drawn from cross-sectional baseline data from the ongoing New Orleans Alcohol Use in HIV (NOAH) study, comprised of 365 in care PLWH. Alcohol consumption measures (Alcohol Use Disorders Test, 30-day timeline follow-back calendar, and phosphatidylethanol [PEth]) were measured in a subcohort of 40 subjects selected based on highest and lowest PEth measurements. In this subcohort of PLWH, the research team detected significant associations between at-risk alcohol use and osteocalcin, and at-risk alcohol use and serum 4-HNE, suggesting suppression of bone formation independent of increased systemic oxidative stress with increasing alcohol consumption.  FULL ARTICLE HERE

LSU Studies Racial/Ethnic Differences in Utilization of Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients

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In this article, Dr. Tekeda Ferguson, Dr. Lu Zhang, and colleagues, cover the racial/ethnic differences in the utilization of chemotherapy among stage I-III breast cancer patients.   As chemotherapy has improved breast cancer survival, whether there are racial/ethnic differences in receiving chemotherapy is of public health interest. As black women have a higher likelihood to be diagnosed with more aggressive breast cancer subtypes, such as tumors with hormonal receptor (HR) negative and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) negative (HR-/HER2-), known as triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), white women have a higher incidence of less aggressive subtypes, such as tumors with HR+/HER2-. The disproportionate distribution of tumor subtype could mask the underlying racial difference in chemotherapy use since aggressive subtype is frequently associated with more chemotherapy use. To better understand the breast cancer-related health disparity, it was necessary to examine the racial difference in chemotherapy use within each subtype. Utilizing data from ten population-based cancer registries of the National Program of Cancer Registries, This article shows that differences in race and ethnicity in chemotherapy (chemo) use vary by breast cancer subtypes. They found non-hispanic black (NHB) and Hispanic breast cancer patients with certain tumor subtypes used more chemotherapy than non-hispanic white (NHW), which is encouraging and can be considered as improved equality of health care access over the past twenty years. However, NHB and Hispanic patients are still less likely to receive timely chemotherapy, which is an indicator of under-treatment experienced by minority patients.  Dr. Ferguson and Dr. Zhang are with the  Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Public Health.

Read the full article here