Ariane Rung, PhD, MPH

Ariane Rung, PhD, MPH, is currently an Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Public Health in New Orleans. Her research interests over the past 20 years center around the effects of the physical and social environment on health. Research she has collaborated on includes studies examining the effect of the built environment on physical activity among middle school girls as well as studies examining the relationship between physical activity and neighborhood parks. Her research was interrupted and subsequently refocused following the spate of disasters experienced in Louisiana, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the BP Oil Spill in 2010. Her current research is on the short- and long-term health effects of the oil spill, specifically focusing on the relationship between social and built environments, disaster recovery, and mental health. Her team is following a group of ~2800 women in southern Louisiana and collecting data on physical and mental health symptoms as wells as a variety of social characteristics and health behaviors. Dr. Rung also teaches a variety of courses for the Epidemiology MPH and PhD programs, including introductory epidemiology, epidemiologic methods, survey methods, and social epidemiology.