James H. Diaz, MD, MHA, MPH & TM, Dr PH

A native of New Orleans, Dr. Diaz earned several degrees from Tulane University, including Bachelor of Science, Doctor of Medicine, Master of Health Administration, Diploma in Tropical Medicine, Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and Doctor of Public Health.  Dr. Diaz is board-certified in anesthesiology, critical care medicine, pain management, general preventive medicine and public heath, occupational/environmental medicine, and medical toxicology.

Dr. Diaz served as a written and oral board examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology from 1986 to 1996 and currently serves on the core examination committee of the American Board of Preventive Medicine.  Dr. Diaz has published over 200 original articles and chapters in scientific journals and textbooks as first author.  Dr. Diaz has published one scientific text on perinatal anesthesiology and critical care medicine, and another text on human toxicology, now in its second edition.  Dr. Diaz authors the section on ectoparasite-borne infectious diseases in the current edition of Mandell’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Diaz currently serves as Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health, and Professor of Anesthesiology in the School of Medicine, at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans (LSUHSC).  Dr. Diaz also serves as Program Director of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at LSUHSC.  Dr. Diaz’s current academic and clinical research interests include:  (1) occupational and environmental toxicology; (2) environmental and tropical infectious diseases and injuries in international travelers; (3) emerging environmentally associated diseases and poisonings, particularly food-borne, waterborne and vector-borne infectious diseases and poisonings; and (4) the impact of climate change on natural disasters and their public health outcomes.  In 2001, Dr. Diaz was elected to lifetime membership in Delta Omega, the national public health honor society.  In 2009, Dr. Diaz accepted the Allen A. Copping Award for excellence in teaching from LSUHSC.  In 2009, Dr. Diaz was appointed to a 2-year Advisory Committee position on the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy in Washington, DC, to study risk factors in the transmission of infectious diseases aboard aircraft and on the impact of international air travel on the dissemination of arthropod-borne infectious diseases.  In 2010, Dr. Diaz was awarded a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Principal Investigator subcontract to study the health effects of biological and chemical exposures in children living in FEMA trailers in the Gulf States for prolonged periods following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  In 2011, Dr. Diaz was elected to the Hall of Fame of the New Orleans Anesthesia Society for his services to the specialty and to the Society as its Past President.