Donna Williams, MS, MPH, DrPH
Curriculum Vitae: DWILLI3.CV.PDF
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:
For more information, contact Dr. Donna Williams, Associate Director of Population Sciences and Community Outreach & Engagement, dwilli3@lsuhsc.edu.
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
Take Care of 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.
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.
The Journal of LPHA is dedicated to the dissemination of research and best practices addressing public health issues in Louisiana and the Gulf South.
The Journal of LPHA is dedicated to the principles and practices recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics.
Volume 4, Issue 1
Volume 3, Issue 3
Volume 3, Issue 2
Volume 3, Issue 1
Volume 2, Issue 1
Volume 1, Issue 1
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.
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.
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.
Ethics Compliance Guidelines
Based on the Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and Best Practices for Journal Editors, jLPHA adheres to the following ethical guidelines. At submission, authors must confirm that:
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]
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
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
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:
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.
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:
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.”
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
An LSUHSC School of Public Health Collaborative of Community Health Sciences faculty, PhD students, and Masters of Public Health students.
To build the evaluation capacity of public health programs through evidence-based strategies by:
The Initiative provides program evaluation and evaluation capacity development for a wide range of chronic disease programs.
We can advance your program’s evaluation knowledge through training seminars and classes– some at no cost. Educational topics include:
We also provide technical assistance and consultation services to programs with identified needs, such as:
The Initiative serves local, state and national agencies.
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
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.
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:
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