Tulane News & Press

1. Louisiana's death rate for pregnant women is twice the average; homicide is a leading cause

   A new article published by VPI faculty Dr. Maeve Wallace found that homicide by an intimate partner is a leading cause of death for pregnant and postpartum women in Louisiana. She says, "Maternal mortality reduction efforts should incorporate violence prevention strategies and recommendations to prevent future maternal deaths."
2. Tulane black medical students stand tall at the Whitney Plantation

   A photograph of 15 African-American medical students from Tulane University standing in front of a former Louisiana slave plantation has gone viral. Labat, the student who organized the photograph said "We are descendants of those people. This is our land. We were called there."
3. Tulane VPI wins grant for violence prevention scholarship program

   The VPI has won a grant from the Pincus Family Foundation to create a Violence Prevention Scholarship which connects graduate students with VPI faculty and community partners! This interdisciplinary program will be based in the Master's of Public Health program, but will integrate faculty from across all schools at Tulane, particularly the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, the School of Medicine and the School of Social Work. Scholars will be immersed in an innovative new training initiative focused on building skills to effectively integrate with community organizations and co-develop programs designed to mitigate the effects of violence and, in the long-term, prevent the intergenerational transmission of violence and its health impacts. The initiative will focus on the lives of children throughout New Orleans, with an emphasis on Central City, and places throughout the city where children are most affected by violence.
4. Dr. Denese Shervington testifies before Congress on childhood trauma related to natural disasters

   Dr. Denese Shervington from the School of Medicine and the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies testified before the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Reform at the first ever hearing on childhood trauma. Dr. Shervington stressed how the impact of natural disasters and climate change must be factored into how the government addresses childhood trauma. She said, “Children need two things: caretakers to make them feel safe and to know their environment is safe. When Katrina happened, all of that was shattered. Children don’t have the language to talk about how they’re feeling and adults are often dependent on that while they themselves are trying to cope”.
5. Dr. Patty Kissinger on the intersection between drug use and contracting syphilis

   Public health officials grappling with record-high syphilis rates around the nation have pinpointed what appears to be a major risk factor: drug use. Research has shown that people who use drugs are more likely to engage in unsafe sexual behaviors, which put them at higher risk for sexually transmitted diseases. "The addiction takes over," said Dr. Patty Kissinger, an epidemiology professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
6. Dr. Stacy Overstreet highlights the need for trauma-informed care in New Orleans schools

   The impact of trauma in the lives of New Orleans students has been shown to alter a child’s brain development and other bodily systems, making it difficult for them to learn. In response, the Orleans Parish school board is working to improve support for traumatized students in public schools. Tulane University psychology professor Stacy Overstreet commented that 67 percent of children nationwide have been exposed to an adverse childhood experience.
7. Dr. Gretchen Clum evaluates impact of campus sexual assault prevention initiatives

   Gretchen Clum of the School of Public Health has been working on numerous projects focused on sexual violence. She evaluated the impact of the 2016 Reading project book “Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture—and What We Can Do About It” by Kate Harding. “Preliminary results suggest that beliefs in rape myths, which we know are associated with blaming sexual assault survivors, and perpetrating of sexual violence, were reduced after reading the book,” Clum said.
8. New Presidential Chair for researching effect of violence on brain chemistry
9. Dr. Kat Theall on Paid Family Leave for Louisiana Families (Op-Ed)

   There are many good health, caregiving, and economic security reasons to endorse the current proposal for paid family leave insurance in Louisiana–Senate Bill 186–as it could greatly benefit women, men, children, families and employers. One important reason is to promote maternal health. About 80% of American women have at least one child, and after giving birth, it is clear that mothers need time for physical recovery, bonding with newborns and emotional health. Since most mothers are employed, it is important for maternity leave to exist — and be paid.
10. Tulane's undergraduate student gov. stands up to federal changes to Title IX law

    On Tuesday, Jan. 22, USG unanimously passed a resolution to submit a comment on behalf of the organization to the U.S. Department of Education on the proposed Title IX regulations. The comment, according to the resolution, would allow USG to voice its concerns about the new regulations’ affect on Tulane students as well as students at other universities.
11. New Dean at Tulane School of Public Health fights for health equity

    Dr. Thomas LaVeist has an illustrious professional track record researching the nature and causes of racial health disparities and inequities. As the new Dean of the Tulane Public Health School, he sees an opportunity to make a difference in a region that most needs a difference. Dean LaVeist notes that “we’re in a city that has all of the urban health problems of every other big city in this country. We’re in a state that has all of the rural health problems of every other part of rural America. And we’re in the Southeast United States, which is the epicenter for inequities, both historically as well as today.”
12. Tulane goes "All In" against sexual assault

    Tulane News provides an in-depth look at recent Tulane initiatives to prevent sexual assault on campus, from the creation of the Wave of Change to the Sexual Assault Task Force to the All In initiative.
13. Dr. Catherine Burnette on the impact of high-conflict divorce on children

    Dr. Catherine Burnette, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at Tulane University, says that people generally respond to divorce and their own conflict resolution skills in one of two ways. “They either model their parent’s conflict resolution styles, or they become self-aware and intentional about how they want to navigate conflict in their own relationships,” Burnette says. And sometimes, it’s a mixture of the two. In other words, having divorced parents may enhance a person’s ability to be a judge of character, recognize red flags and choose healthy partners.
14. Tulane traumatologist on compassion fatigue from U.S. mass shootings

    Charles Figley, a psychologist and director of the Tulane University Traumatology Institute, says thinking too much about traumatic events, whether it's a refugee crisis on the other side of the world or a school shooting in our own country, can make people too anxious or depressed to function in their daily lives. Figley says, "It's a natural response called compassion fatigue. We of course think about ourselves being in such a place, in which someone would suddenly burst in and shoot things up, but if we think about that too much, then it deteriorates our sense of confidence and our sense of trust and our sense of safety."
15. Tulane researcher studies why women die from pregnancy more often in LA than other states

    The U.S. is the most dangerous nation in the developed world in which to give birth, and Louisiana is among the states with the highest maternal death rates. Dr. Maeve Wallace, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist and researcher at Tulane's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, has received two grants totaling $2.4 million to study pregnancy-associated mortality to study potential reasons why.
16. Dr. Cathy Taylor on policy against corporal punishment released by American Academy of Pediatrics

    The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which represents 64,000 pediatricians, released an updated policy statement that “corporal punishment and harsh verbal abuse may cause a child to be fearful in the short term but does not improve behavior over the long term.” Dr. Cathy Taylor supports this policy and adds, “The goal of discipline is to teach, guide, educate, and reinforce good behavior.” Even further, Dr. Taylor conducted a recent study that found that even indirect exposure to violence during childhood can play a key role in the child developing anti-social and aggressive behavior. Positive parenting strategies can be found on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website.
17. Tulane researchers and community partners promote "trauma-informed" school environments

    Tulane researchers conduct 4-year study, "Safe Schools NOLA," on trauma-informed approaches across 5 schools in New Orleans. These approaches include training for teachers to recognize signs of trauma, finding ways to make children feel safe, teaching coping skills and eliminating harsh discipline policies. The Institute for Women and Ethnic Studies, a key community partner for many Tulane researchers, surveyed New Orleans youth over the past several years to learn how deep the mental health issues are stemming from untreated trauma.
18. Parkland shooting survivors host gun violence prevention panel at Tulane

    March for Our Lives – a student-led organization responding to the Parkland mass shooting – held a panel at Tulane as New Orleans was the group's last stop on the Southern leg of its Road to Change tour, which brought together survivors of the Parkland shooting and local activists and organizers to discuss topics including school-based gun violence prevention strategies and how to push politically for more restrictions on guns. Being conscious of their location, the panelists also turned to the issue of violence in urban environments, especially that which affects young people.
19. Dr. Catherine Burnette on preventing intimate partner violence in indigenous communities

    Dr. Burnette has dedicated her career to studying the health disparities of indigenous peoples, examining everything from domestic violence to substance abuse. Her latest article, “Indigenous Women and Professionals’ Proposed Solutions to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence in Tribal Communities,” was selected as the 2018 Best Paper by the Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work.
20. Dr. Ashley Wennerstrom on NOLA LEADs project training community health leaders

    NOLA LEADs includes a series of six trainings held over three months that focused on helping people develop the skills and knowledge needed to advocate for changes in structural conditions that contribute to health disparities. Much of the program was modeled after the Louisiana Community Health Worker Institute, a program founded and directed by Ashley Wennerstrom (NOLA LEADs co-investigator).