Search Results for "donna williams"

Donna Williams, MS, MPH, DrPH

Curriculum Vitae: DWILLI3.CV.PDF


Open faculty positions at LSUHSC School of Public Health. Be a part of a growing Cancer Center!

LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health is recruiting now for individuals who want to be a part of a growing  Cancer Center in a state with some of the highest incidences, mortalities, cancer disparities, and social vulnerability in the country.  We are building a team of population scientists and community health scientists, who, in partnership with clinical and basic scientists, highly engaged communities, and state leaders, are committed to making a difference in cancer outcomes. Our united goal is to successfully compete as the NCI-designated Cancer Center for the state of Louisiana in the coming years.

Current openings include:
Two open-rank faculty in community health sciences and policy with an emphasis on community engagement.
One open-rank faculty in community health sciences and policy with an emphasis on implementation science.
One open-rank faculty in environmental health with an emphasis on environmental justice and exposure.
Three open-rank epidemiology faculty, one specializing in environmental mixtures and cancer, one experienced in epigenetic (or multi-omics) studies, and one population sciences researcher proficient in mining LTR and other extensive databases and biospecimens for the benefit of cancer center researchers.
Two post-doc positions in cancer prevention and community engagement.

Infrastructure includes:

  1. Direct access to one of the leading statewide cancer registries in the country (managed by LSU)
  2. High engagement of legislators at local and state level
  3. Active LSU community outreach programs across all parishes (counties) throughout the state
  4. Adult and pediatric hospital partners that care for patients regardless of ability to pay
  5. Leadership commitment to establish population sciences core facilities
  6. Active Superfund projects
  7. Basic science and clinical researchers who are ready partners for collaborative research
  8. Engagement of Pennington Biomedical Research Center, the largest academic nutrition research center in the world

For more information, contact Dr. Donna Williams, Associate Director of Population Sciences and Community Outreach & Engagement, dwilli3@lsuhsc.edu.


What can we do for ourselves and our community?

3/23/2020
by Dr. Donna Williams
Associate Dean for Practice and Community Engagement at LSU Health School of Public Health.

My octogenarian parents are experiencing cabin fever.  Even into their 80’s they have remained active.

Since their ages bring increased risk, they are being super cautious.  However there is a calm about them.  They were children during WWII when supplies were extremely limited. My mom tells that she does not drink milk because they only had powdered milk when she was a child which she says is disgusting.  My dad’s family lived in an apartment with no bathroom during the war. They have also lived through several recessions, 911, and Katrina.  They know all too well one of life’s great truths:  this too shall pass.

We WILL come out on the other side of this.  Some things will be forever changed, like TSA post 911.  But we will regain normalcy. In the meantime, take care of yourself and take care of others.

Take Care of Yourself

  • Keep a routine.  Get up, brush your teeth and hair, act like you are going to work.  Set up a workspace and report there.  Take a lunch break.
  • Exercise and get fresh air.
  • Try new recipes with whatever you have around the house.
  • Clean out that cluttered closet or drawer.  It’s immediate gratification.
  • Read a book.  The public libraries have download options.
  • Listen only to the experts (Dr. Fauci, the World Health Organization, the governor, the health department) and don’t entertain conspiracy theories. That being said, don’t be hyper-vigilant and go crazy keeping up with every new story.
  • Connect.  Use zoom, the phone, email, or yell to your neighbor across the street.  Physical isolation does not mean emotional isolation.
  • Ask for help if you need it, emotional or tangible help.

Take Care of Others

  • Check on your neighbors (from a safe distance) particularly if they are elderly.
  • If you are going to the store or the pharmacy, see if anyone in your family or any neighbors need anything.  This will help others and reduce the density of people in those places.
  • Foster a dog or cat.  Shelters and rescue organizations need help right now.  Pets have been shown to help with mental health.  Walking a dog is great exercise.
  • Join the Medical Reserve Corps.
  • Contact United Way or VIA for volunteer opportunities.
  • If you have the resources, donate.  The need is great and will continue to grow as more people find themselves out of work.  One suggestion is Second Harvest Food Bank. They are also taking volunteers.
  • Consider giving blood. We are encountering a major blood shortage so if can help, please consider reaching out to the American Red Cross and others.

So stay in touch with each other, stay connected, go for a walk, sit outside and yell to your neighbors, catch up on your reading.  If you have not figured out zoom, it is a great tool and really easy to use.  Wash your hands and stay safe.

And reach out to someone if you need help.

Here’s hoping to we’ll all get a chance to be with each other soon. Because remember: this too shall pass.


jLPHA

Submissions accepted through August 15, 2024 for November issue

 

Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association is a peer reviewed publication addressing issues within the fields of public health, community health, and health education and promotion, particularly focusing on work conducted in and/or specifically relevant to Louisiana. 

Mission

The Journal of LPHA is dedicated to the dissemination of research and best practices addressing public health issues in Louisiana and the Gulf South. 

Statement of Integrity

The Journal of LPHA is dedicated to the principles and practices recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics.


DOWNLOAD THE LATEST VOLUME OF jLPHA HERE
Past Issues

Volume 3, Issue 3
Volume 3, Issue 2
Volume 3, Issue 1
Volume 2, Issue 1
Volume 1, Issue 1

Manuscript Submission

jLPHA promotes open access in the scientific community and accepts articles on a rolling bases all year long. Accepted manuscripts include brief reports, notes from the field, program evaluation, secondary data analysis, policy assessment, and original research. For more information, view manuscript guidelines. Articles accepted for publication require no publication or handling fee.

Manuscript Spotlight

The “Spotlight” section of jLPHA is designed to call attention to specific programs, trends, research, and individuals driving public health in Louisiana. If you have suggestions as to future content, please contact: Donna Williams, Editor-in-Chief at dwilli3@lsuhsc.edu.

Peer Reviewers


Review Process
When an author submits a manuscript, the journal’s editors review it to ensure that it meets the guidelines and evaluate its appropriateness for the journal’s readership. The manuscript then undergoes double-blind peer review. Please note that peer reviewers evaluate but do not edit the manuscript. Editorial staff members edit manuscripts for organization, grammar, style, format, clarity, and forward them to an editorial assistant. A proof of the accepted document is created and forwarded to the submitting author for review. Proofs must be carefully checked by authors and returned within three (3) days of receipt. Authors may offer suggestions on these edits but do not have the right of refusal. The journal’s editor makes final decisions on publications. The response time for manuscripts is typically 6 – 8 weeks from submission. All aspects of the submission and notification process are managed electronically.

Conflicts of Interest Statement
Conflicts of interest (COIs) exist when there is a divergence between an individual’s private interests (competing interests) and his/her responsibilities to scientific and publishing activities for which a reasonable observer might wonder if the individual’s behavior or judgment was motivated by considerations related to his/her other interests.COIs may influence the judgment of authors, reviewers, and editors; these conflicts often are not immediately apparent to others or to the reviewer. There are several types of competing interests. They may be financial ties, academic commitments, personal relationship(s), political/religious beliefs and/or institutional affiliations. As a condition of reviewing a manuscript, all declarations about COIs must be provided in writing. If any are declared, they will be published with the article. If there is doubt about whether a circumstance represents a conflict, it must be disclosed.

  • Funding Sources. Sources of full or partial funding or other support for the research must be declared and should be described in an acknowledgement if the manuscript is published.
  • Authors. All authors will be asked to report financial, academic, personal, and other COIs related to the research, and jLPHA will publish all COIs (or their absence) that are relevant to the manuscript being considered.
  • Peer Reviewers. Reviewers will be asked if they have a COI with the content or authors of a manuscript; if so, they will be removed from the review process.
  • Editors. Editors will not make editorial decisions or be involved in the editorial process of a manuscript submitted to jLPHA if they have a COI as described above.

Ethics Compliance Guidelines
Based on the Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and Best Practices for Journal EditorsjLPHA adheres to the following ethical guidelines. At submission, authors must confirm that:

  1. The work has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis).
  2. The work is not under consideration elsewhere.
  3. Copyright has not been breached in seeking its publication.
  4. The research has been approved by an Institutional Review Board (if applicable).
  5. The publication has been approved by all co-authors.

Plagiarism Policy
Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association may use software to selectively screen article submissions for originality.

Digital Archiving
Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association is commented to providing environmentally conscious journals in digital format, no paper copies are available. Current and archived jLPHA journals are preserved online to guarantee persistent access to journal content for the very long term.[/expand]

Editors-in-Chief

Donna L. Williams, MS, MPH, DrPH
Associate Dean for Practice and Community Engagement
Associate Professor, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health

Managing Editors

Martha L. Cuccia, MPH, MCHES
Instructor, Health Policy and Systems Management
LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health

Yvette Merritt, MPH
Instructor, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health

Edward J. Trapido, Sc.D., F.A.C.E.
Associate Dean for Research
Professor and Wendell Gauthier Chair of Cancer Epidemiology
LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health

Editorial Board

Antoine Brantley, MPH
Evaluation Supervisor, STD/HIV/Hepatitis Program
Office of Public Health, Louisiana Department of Health

David J. Holcombe, MD, MSA
Regional Administrator/Medical Director
Louisiana Office of Public Health, Region 6 (Central Louisiana)

Candice A. Myers, PhD
Assistant Professor
Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Stephen Murphy, PhD
Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Emily Nichols, MD
Director | Medical Director
Emergency Medical Services, City of New Orleans

Stephen Phillippi, PhD
Associate Professor, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health

Jill Rush-Kolodzey, MD, MPH, DrPH
LSUS/LSUHSC-Shreveport MPH Program

Amy Thierry, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences
Xavier University of Louisiana

Maeve Wallace, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Specific instructions for students

Students are encouraged to submit papers in any of the categories listed above, using the same guidelines.

With your submission, please include a cover later stating that the following:

  1. Your Name
  2. Name of School and Program
  3. Degree you are seeking
  4. Year of study (1st year, 2nd year, etc.)
  5. Faculty Advisor’s name.

Please have the cover letter state that your faculty advisor or another faculty member are aware of the submission, and have the letter cosigned (your signature and a faculty signature).  This does not mean a faculty member needs to be included as an author of your submission.

Contact Information: jlpha@lsuhsc.edu

APHA Live! Available for On-Demand

Couldn’t make it to APHA 2017 in Atlanta?
You can still watch on-demand sessions and presentations that you missed – learn, be inspired APHA Live.
Contact mcuccia@lsuhsc.edu  for the LSU password to access the on-demand sessions of APHA for Faculty, Students and Staff.

13th Annual Public Health Finance Roundtable
Sunday, November 5th, 2017 Georgia World Congress Center – Room A405 3:00pm to 5:30pm
Click here for more information

APHA Film Festival: Screening of LSU Sponsored film “Michelle’s Story”
Session FF12: Global Public Health Film Festival: Inform, Educate, Empower, session 4 scheduled for Tuesday, November 7, 2017: 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. 

Individual Presentations:

  • Oral Presentation
    “Expanding Patient Navigation Services in the Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program”
    Courtney S. Wheeler, MPH, Nannozi Ssenkoloto, MPH, Joann Lee, MPH, Donna Williams, DrPH
  • Poster Presentation
    “Drowned Out: The Smoke-Free East Baton Rouge Campaign and the Impact of a Thousand Year Flood”
    Authors: Aubree Thelen, MPH, Mikal Giancola, MPH, Lydia Kuykendal, MPH, Tonia Moore
  • Poster Presentation
    “Gender And Age Disparities In Relationship Of Acculturation, Sugar-sweetened Beverages Consumption And Obesity Among Latino Immigrants”
    Authors: Tung-Sung Tseng, DrPH, Shuang Yang, MS, Daesy K. Behrhorst, BA , Yu-Wen Chiu, DrPH, Chih-Yang Hu, MSPH, ScD , Hui-Yi Lin, PhD

LSU Health New Orleans awarded $15 million in federal grants to support cancer education, detection programs

SOURCE: http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/business/article_2ad22930-7c6c-11e7-b25a-6b47413bf8ad.html

The LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health has been awarded a $15 million federal grant to support its cancer education, early detection, comprehensive control and registry programs.

The money, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will pay over five years, will go toward the school’s Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health program, which offers no-cost mammograms and Pap tests to low-income or underinsured women across the state; its Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, which focuses on preventable cancers and tobacco use and obesity as cancer risk-factors; as well as the Louisiana Tumor Registry, a statewide population-based cancer registry.

“More than half of all cancers are preventable or can be detected early and cured,” said Donna Williams, director of Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Control Programs and LSU Health’s associate dean for public health practice and community engagement. “While Louisiana has one of the highest death rates from cancer in the country, the cancer control programs at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health are working across the state to help Louisianians prevent cancers.”


Evaluation Committee

 

On behalf of the faculty, staff and administration of the LSU School of Public Health, we are always working hard to improve the quality of your education and professional development. Please use the button on top of this page for your comments, tips and suggestions on how we can make your educational experience better. You may submit completely anonymously.

Sincerely,

The LSU SoPH Evaluation Committee


Charge:
  • To participate in all evaluations related to the school’s strategic plan, including student exit surveys, alumni surveys, employer/agency surveys, focus groups and others annually
  • To report the findings of all evaluations to the Administrative Council and faculty in a timely fashion
  • To render advice and assistance for the Self Study to ensure effectiveness in meeting School mission, goals and objectives
  • To follow up recommendations from evaluations for appropriate response
2020 Members
  • Ed Trapido, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Chair
  • Kari Brisolara, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
  • Donna Williams, Associate Dean for Practice and Community Engagement
  • Qingzhao Yu, Professor, BIOS
  • Ariane Rung, EPID, Associate Professor
  • Christine Brennan, Associate Professor, HPSM
  • Henry Nuss, Assistant Professor, BCHS
  • Elizabeth Levitzky, Assistant Professor, Program Director BCHS
  • Amee Barattini, Business Manager
  • Kc Madhav, Epi Data Center
  • Hasheemah Afaneh, Staff Assembly
  • Isabel Billiot, Academic Affairs (Admissions)
  • Martha Cuccia, Instructor, Academic and Student Affairs
  • Randi Kaufman, Diversity
  • Thanh Nguyen, MPH/MS Student
  • Mia Baker, MPH/MS Student

click here to view our reports


Initiative for Evaluation and Capacity Building

Who We Are

An LSUHSC School of Public Health Collaborative of Community Health Sciences faculty, PhD students, and Masters of Public Health students.


Our Mission

To build the evaluation capacity of public health programs through evidence-based strategies by:

  • Designing effective evaluation projects;
  • Building evaluating knowledge and skills;
  • Cultivating organizational learning, improvement, and accountability; and
  • Creating awareness and support for program evaluation.

What We Offer

The Initiative provides program evaluation and evaluation capacity development for a wide range of chronic disease programs.

  • HIV
  • Cancer
  • Asthma
  • Tobacco
  • Family Planning
  • Nutrition & Physical Activity

We can advance your program’s evaluation knowledge through training seminars and classes– some at no cost. Educational topics include:

  • Identifying where program evaluation is helpful;
  • Evaluation planning and implementation;
  • Major types of program evaluation (processes, goals, outcomes);
  • Overview of methods to collect information;
  • Data collection, analysis, and interpretation;
  • Reporting and dissemination of results; and
  • Pitfalls to avoid.

We also provide technical assistance and consultation services to programs with identified needs, such as:

  • Defining program goals and objectives;
  • Developing a conceptual framework;
  • Defining methodological approach;
  • Selecting indicators; and
  • Developing a data collection and analysis plan.

Who We Serve

The Initiative serves local, state and national agencies.

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • National Institute of Health
  • Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals
  • Louisiana Public Health Institute
  • National Science Foundation
  • Community Based Organizations

More Information

Please contact Community Evaluation at the LSUHSC School of Public Health.

William Robinson, PhD
(504) 568-5700
wrobin@lsuhsc.edu

Donna Williams, DrPH
(504) 568-5860
dwill3@lsuhsc.edu

Henry Nuss, PhD
(504) 568-5886
hnussj@lsuhsc.edu


Research Projects

BCHS / CHSP Research
(Faculty in alphabetical order)

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.

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.

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.


Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Control Programs (LCP)

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.

Louisiana Cancer Prevention & Control Programs (LCP)

louisianacancer.org

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:

LCP Programs, Projects, & Studies:

  • The Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program (LBCHP) (lbchp.org). LBCHP works to reduce the burden of breast and cervical cancer in Louisiana (LA) through direct service delivery and patient navigation; clinical quality improvement/health systems change interventions; and community outreach. LBCHP offers no-cost breast and cervical cancer screenings to low-income, uninsured or underinsured women through a network of clinics/hospitals located across LA. LBCHP patient navigators work hand-in-hand with patients to assess and overcome barriers to screening. If diagnosed with cancer, women screened through LBCHP are enrolled in the Breast and Cervical Cancer Medicaid program (https://ldh.la.gov/page/1504).
  • Screen Up. Screen Up is LCP’s quality improvement program that aims to increase breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening rates in every Louisiana community. Screen Up works towards this goal by providing quality improvement support to primary care clinics to increase breast, cervical, or colorectal cancer screening rates using national experts’ guidelines and evidenced based interventions. Screen Up targets clinics with low screening rates in areas with the highest numbers of new cases of late stage cancer and/or high Medicaid or uninsured population. The project works by providing participating clinics with trained practice coaches from LSU Health New Orleans to work with their staff on improving processes that affect screening rates. Participating clinic staff also receive professional development/training.
  • State Partnerships. The CDC issues a number of grants under its Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (CCCP) with LCP at LSU Health New Orleans being one of the rare academic recipients, which presents a unique learning opportunity for students. Charged with developing, building, and providing technical assistance for partnerships and coalitions working to improve health in communities, LCCCP focuses on preventable cancers and two of its major modifiable risk factors: tobacco and obesity. Money from this grant helps fund LCCRT; the state’s nine Louisiana Healthy Communities Coalitions (LHCC) which work on community-led projects; and the State Cancer Plan.
  • HPV Studies. LCP works in a variety of ways to help people understand how important it is to be screened for cervical cancer and for girls and boys to get the HPV vaccine. Efforts include a series of studies centered on simplifying HPV diagnoses by studying the efficacy of at-home tests, as well as improving HPV vaccination rates by studying how physicians with high vaccine compliance rates achieve those numbers.
  • Louisiana Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (LCCRT). Led by LCP, the LCCRT is a consortium of health experts who work in partnership to advance policies and programs to improve colorectal cancer screening rates in Louisiana. Modeled after the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, LCCRT’s goals are to increase the colorectal cancer screening rate in Louisiana to 80% and reduce health disparities associated with colorectal cancer.
  • Survivorship Plans. Cancer experts are recognizing the value of long-term survival planning, with LCP working to devise these plans for survivors of the following cancers: breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, prostate, and kidney/renal pelvic. 

LCP efforts all entail a variety of functions, with LCP featuring experts in data and evaluation, community partnerships, communications, policy, professional development, specialized skills such as data visualization, and internal business staff. To find out more, contact Dr. Donna Williams, LCP Director and LSU Health New Orleans Professor at dwilli3@lsuhsc.edu