Faculty in the News

Social Work Dean Bordnick this week received The Visionary Award for Outstanding Contributions to Youth Recovery Research at the 2018 Association of Recovery for Higher Education Conference (ARHE) in Houston for his work developing virtual reality solutions to substance misuse / addiction. Tulane is working to bring a recovery program to campus, and Bordnick said the School of Social Work is poised to be leader in this effort since social workers provide most of the treatment services for substance misuse issues.

Researchers have found the amount of violence in a neighborhood can directly impact a child biologically, so much so, that the rate of violence directly correlates to the length of telomeres at the end of a child’s chromosomes. “We have evidence that there are changes in the actual DNA in the cells within each child. We have evidence that it changes how children's stress response systems work,” said Stacy Drury, the Associate Director of the Tulane Brain Institute.

Dr. Cathy Taylor led a research team that surveyed pediatricians around the country and found 75% of children’s doctors don’t think spanking is an effective form of discipline and could do more harm than good.

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).

“Opposition to domestic violence is not controversial, but it’s usually not a front burner issue. It has potential, however, to cut across partisan lines because it invokes family values and ending violent crime. Helena was very good at finding way to appeal to common values,” said Tania Tetlow, a Tulane University law professor and expert in domestic violence laws.