Approaches
Systems and Policy-Level Change
Long-term violence prevention requires systemic transformation. VPI’s approach to systems and policy-level change focuses on examining and reforming structures, institutions, and policies that contribute to violence and inequity. Faculty and projects work to translate research into actionable policy recommendations, guide institutional reforms, and support advocacy efforts, ensuring that findings lead to meaningful change at organizational, municipal, and national levels.
Researchers
Katherine Andrinopoulos, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: HIV, Family Planning
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
Allison Boothe Trigg, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology Division Chief, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Early Childhood Mental Health, Adolescent Psychiatry
Angela S. Breidenstine, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Infant Mental Health Assessment And Intervention, Mindfulness
Fred Buttell, PhD, LCSW-BACS
Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: LGBTQ, Batterer Intervention Program Evaluation
Gretchen Clum, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Resilience, Mental Health, Women’s Health
Clare Daniel, PhD
Senior Professor of Practice
Specialty Areas: Teen Pregnancy, Feminist Pedagogy, Community Education & Engagement
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
Katherine Johnson, PhD
Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Sexual Violence, Sociology, Infertility, Reproductive Technologies, Family Norms
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
Becki T. Kondkar, JD
Clinical Professor of Law, School of Law
Specialty Areas: Domestic Violence Litigation, Family Justice
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
Lolita Moss, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Public Health
Speciality Areas: Intimate Partner Violence, Media socialization, Adolescent development, Intervention, & African American youth
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
Patrick Rafail, PhD
Associate Professor, Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Social Movements And Collective Behavior, Applied Statistics, Political Sociology, Social Control, Complex Organizations, Urban Policing
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
Martha Silva, PhD
Martha Silva, PhD, MPH
Specialty Areas: Family Planning, Sex Education, Social and Behavior Change, Provider Behavior
Jay Silverman, PhD
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute & Usdin Family Professor of Community Health
Specialty Areas: Social Epidemiologic Studies, Reproductive Coercion, Gender-based Household Maltreatment, and Reproductive Violence
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
Loretta Sonnier, MD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Child And Adolescent Forensic Psychiatry, Violence Risk Assessment
Monica Stevens, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Behavior Disorders, Trauma
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
Charles H. Zeanah, Jr. MD
Mary Peters Sellars-Polchow Chair of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Adverse Early Experiences, Attachment Disorders
Projects
Center for Youth Equity
Enrichment 2 Empowerment
Supportive Hospital-based Intervention for Firearm Trauma
Community-Based Violence Intervention & Prevention Initiative
Healthy Neighborhoods
LaVEX
Address
1440 Canal Street, Suite 1510, New Orleans, LA 70112
social media
@tulanevpi