University Catalog 2025-2026

Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Dean: Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD
           Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Health Equity

Mission and Values

Our Mission

As stewards of the first school of public health in the United States, the Tulane University Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine cultivates independent thinkers, innovative leaders, fierce advocates, and accomplished scholars.

From the neighborhoods of New Orleans to communities worldwide, we conduct research and collaborate with our partners to ensure that all of humanity has an equitable opportunity to be healthy and pursue optimal well-being.

We train the problem solvers.

Our Values

Legacy: We were the first; we lead

Diversity: Leverage our collective genius

Collaboration: Cultivate a culture of shared success

Excellence: Whatever we do, do it well

Discovery: Solve problems that matter

Engagement: Be of value to New Orleans and the world

Balance: Have fun!

Our Vision

Optimal health and well-being for all.

About Us

As of September 18, 2024, we are the Tulane University Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine! Our name recognizes the landmark total lifetime giving of Celia Scott Weatherhead, a 1965 graduate of Tulane’s Newcomb College and a stalwart supporter of issues of public health and health equity.

Our school was initially founded in 1912 when it became the very first school of public health in the United States. Tulane’s commitment to public health goes back even further, however, to 1834 when the university was founded to address concerns of cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, and malaria.

The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health continues to educate passionate students who want to make a difference in the health and well-being of populations around the globe. Located in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the curve of the Mississippi River, the Weatherhead School is at the epicenter of some of the most pressing issues facing public health today, like the intersection of climate change and health, the intractability of health inequities, and the re-emergence of tropical infectious diseases. These factors and more make us the public health school of the South.

Our public health students are grounded in the foundational competencies and topics of the field, such as epidemiology, biostatistics, and the social determinants of health, but they can also choose areas of specialization that set them apart in fields such as maternal and child health, disaster management, violence prevention, and more.

The only public health school with a Department of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, we have studied vector-borne diseases extensively, with ongoing research in malaria, dengue, and Chagas. We also have a strong focus on cardiovascular disease, health equity and disparities, reproductive health, nutrition, and disaster response and displacement, along with growing strengths in genomics, epigenetics, and other aspects of personalized health. Research hubs in both emerging and traditional topics like climate change and health, data science and artificial intelligence, and cancer prevention and control offer interdisciplinary opportunities to faculty and students alike.

As a top-tier research institution, students learn from faculty who are leaders actively engaged in key issues and in pursuit of greater knowledge and solutions that will improve the lives of populations, communities, and people. Our accomplished faculty are committed public health professionals regularly recognized among their peers with awards, prestigious memberships, and important roles and responsibilities on editorial boards and within associations. They take their job preparing the next generation of public health professionals very seriously.

Our students gain a rigorous skills-based education here, and we are fortunate to count ministers and commissioners of health, deans of schools of public health, and presidents and CEOs of health organizations among our alumni. Whether they pursued their degree on our downtown New Orleans campus or through one of our growing list of high-caliber online programs, all of our graduates go on to do important, life-changing work. As an equity-minded institution, our aim is to graduate a cadre of public health professionals who reflect the communities most in need of public health support.

Join more than a century’s worth of Tulane graduates who have arrived with passion and left with purpose as leaders in public health.

Our Leadership

Dean
Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD
Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Health Equity

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Christine M. Arcari, PhD, MPH

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Development
Patricia Kissinger, PhD, MPH

Associate Dean for Research
Kelli Stidham Hall, PhD, MS

Associate Dean for Academic Programs
Gretchen Clum, PhD

Associate Dean for Institutional Excellence and Opportunity.
Eva Silvestre, PhD

Associate Dean for Public Health Practice 
W. Susan Cheng, PhD, MPH

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education
Joseph Keating, PHD

Associate Dean for Global Health
Richard Oberhelman, MD

Director of Doctoral Programs
Katherine Andrinopoulos, PhD

Associate Provost for Health Sciences and Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education
M. A. Krousel-Wood, MD, MPSPH

Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration
Susan Barrera, MBA

Assistant Dean for Student Experience
Erica Whitiker-Valenzuela, EdD

Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management
Suzanna Chase, MS

Chief of Staff
Tom Augustson


Dean's Office

Celia Scott Weatherhead School of                                                                             
Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Tulane University
Tidewater Building
1440 Canal Street, Suite 2400
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
www.sph.tulane.edu/
Phone: (504) 988-5397

Uptown Office

Caroline Richardson Building
Phone: (504) 865-5140