Approaches
Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Research and Practice
VPI recognizes that systemic oppression and racism are central drivers of violence and health inequities. This approach integrates an anti-racist and anti-oppressive lens into all research and practice, ensuring that methods, policies, and programs challenge inequity rather than reinforce it. Faculty and projects focus on identifying structural barriers, amplifying marginalized voices, and designing interventions that promote justice, fairness, and inclusion in communities affected by violence.
Researchers
Courtney N. Baker, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Science & Engineering
Specialty Areas: Trauma-Informed Care, Youth Violence, School Settings
Scott Batey, PhD, MSW
Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Community Engagement, Health Equity, Care Intervention
Caryn N. Bell, PhD
Assistant Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Socioeconomic Status, Racial Disparities
Andrea S. Boyles, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Police-Citizen Relations, Neighborhood Disadvantage & Disorder, Community Development & Engagement, Resilience & Collective Action
Angela S. Breidenstine, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Infant Mental Health Assessment And Intervention, Mindfulness
Xiaojin Chen, PhD
Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Developmental Criminology, Delinquency & Victimization Among Disadvantaged Children
Gretchen Clum, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Resilience, Mental Health, Women’s Health
Margaret Mary Downey, PhD, MSW
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Social & Structural Determinants, Health Equity
Regardt (Reggie) Ferreira, PhD
Program Director of the Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy & Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Disaster Resilience, Intimate Partner Violence, International Violence Prevention
Julia Fleckman, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Structural and Social Determinants of Firearm Violence, Evaluation of Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies, Community-Partnered Research, Evaluation of IPV and Gender-based Violence Interventions, Restorative Approaches
Samantha Francois, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Adolescent Development, Structural Violence, Anti-racist Research
Anastasia J. Gage, PhD
Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Maternal Victimization, Gender Norms, Adolescent Health
Kelli Stidham Hall, PhD, MS
Associate Dean of Research & Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Policy, Community Engagement, Interventions, Poverty, Structural Racism
Emily Harville, PhD
Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Perinatal Health, Life Course Epidemiology
Julie Hernandez, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Geography, Family Planning
Sally J. Kenney, PhD
Professor & Newcomb College Endowed Chair and Director, Newcomb Institute 2010-2022
Specialty Areas: The Politics Of Gender-Based Violence, Exclusionary Policies
Patricia (Patty) Kissinger, BSN, PhD
Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: STDs, Reproductive Health, Substance Use
Evan Krueger, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Mental Health, Addiction, Social Environmental Factors
Marva L. Lewis, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Racism-Based Stress And Birth Outcomes, Community-Based Parenting
Manuel (Manny) Ocasio, PhD
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Community Engagement, Interventions, Health Equity, Social Media Approaches
Catherine O'Connor, PhD, LMSW
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Indigenous Women And Children, Resilience, Health Disparities
Stephen Ostertag, PhD
Associate Professor, Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Media, Crime And Incarceration, Racism And Systemic Oppression
Anita Raj, PhD
Executive Director of the Newcomb Institute & Nancy Reeves Dreux Endowed Chair in The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Epidemiologic and qualitative assessment of gendered, social, and cultural vulnerabilities compromising reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health across national settings
Anneliese Singh, PhD
Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Chief Officer for Academic Excellence & Opportunity, Professor, School of SocialWork
Specialty Areas: Multicultural Counseling, Racial Justice, Resilience
Chelsea Singleton, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Epidemiology, Nutritional Inequities, Racism and Structural Violence
Sharven Taghavi, MD, MPH, MS, FACS, FCCP
Assistant Professor, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Trauma Surgery, Injury Prevention, Health Disparities
Katherine (Kat) Theall
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Cecile Usdin Professorship in Women’s Health
Specialty Areas: Health Equity, Built & Social Environment, Maternal Health, Social Epidemiology
Dovile Vilda, PhD
Assistant Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Policy, Health Equity, Social Determinants
Projects
Center for Youth Equity
Enrichment 2 Empowerment
Supportive Hospital-based Intervention for Firearm Trauma
Community-Based Violence Intervention & Prevention Initiative
Healthy Neighborhoods
Address
1440 Canal Street, Suite 1510, New Orleans, LA 70112
social media
@tulanevpi