Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

The Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is part of Tulane University

Tulane University

Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

. It is the oldest school of public health in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and the only American school of Tropical Medicine

Tropical medicine

Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....

Departments

Biostatistics

Biostatistics is the application of statistics to a wide range of topics in biology...

and Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...

Global Community Health

Community health

Community health, a field of public health, is a discipline that concerns itself with the study and betterment of the health characteristics of biological communities. While the term community can be broadly defined, community health tends to focus on geographic areas rather than people with shared...

and Behavioral Sciences

Global Environmental Health Sciences

Environmental health

Environmental health is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health...

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...

Global Health Systems

Health system

A health system can be defined as the structured and interrelated set of all actors and institutions contributing to health improvement. The health system boundaries could then be referred to the concept of health action, which is "any set of activities whose primary intent is to improve or...

and Development

Development

-Land use:*Green development, a concept that includes consideration of community-wide or regional environmental implications*Land development, altering the landscape in any number of ways...

Tropical Medicine

Tropical medicine

Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....

Centers and Institutes

Center for Applied Environmental Public Health

Center for Bioenvironmental Research

Center for Cardiovascular Health

Center for Evidence-Based

Evidence-based design

Evidence-based design often shortened to EBD is a field of study that emphasizes the importance of using credible data in order to influence the design process. The approach has become popular in Healthcare Architecture in an effort to improve patient and staff well-being, patient healing...

Global Health

Center for Global Health Equity

Health equity

Health equity refers to the study of differences in the quality of health and health care across different populations....

Center for Infectious Disease

Infectious disease

Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...

Health Office for Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

Hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...

and Renal Center for Excellence

Office for Global Health

Global health

Global health is the health of populations in a global context and transcends the perspectives and concerns of individual nations. Health problems that transcend national borders or have a global political and economic impact, are often emphasized...

Office of Health Research

Prevention Research Center

South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness

Center for Public Health Preparedness

Centers for Public Health Preparedness program was established in 2000 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to strengthen terrorism and emergency preparedness by linking academic expertise to state and local health agency needs....

South Central Public Health Institute

South Central Public Health Training Center

Tulane/Xavier

Xavier University of Louisiana

Xavier University of Louisiana , located in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States, is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college with the distinction of being the only historically black Roman Catholic institution of higher education...

National Center of Excellence in Women's Health

Women's health

Women's health refers to health issues specific to human female anatomy. These often relate to structures such as female genitalia and breasts or to conditions caused by hormones specific to, or most notable in, females. Women's health issues include menstruation, contraception, maternal health,...

History

The study of public health in Louisiana

Louisiana

began in the early 19th century, when New Orleans suffered from endemic malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

and almost yearly epidemics of cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

and yellow fever

Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....

. Attempts to control tropical diseases led to the establishment of the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834, founded by a group of young practicing physicians. The founders issued a prospectus that emphasized the lack of knowledge of these diseases and the necessity to study them in the environment in which they occurred. In 1881, formal instruction in hygiene was offered for the first time.

A gift to Tulane, $25,000 from businessman Samuel Zemurray, instituted the country's first School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1912. The school's launch in 1912 was significant, and as it was part of the movement to establish similar institutions around the world. It was hailed by academicians nationally and internationally as the first such school in the United States, where tropical diseases had had devastating effects, particularly in the South

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

. The first Doctor of Public Health degree was conferred in 1914.

Later, in 1919, the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine merged with the College of Medicine. The departments of tropical medicine and preventive medicine then merged to establish the department of tropical medicine and public health. Tulane joined the Council on Education of Public Health

Council on Education for Public Health

The Council on Education for Public Health is an independent agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit schools of public health as well as certain programs offered in settings other than in schools of public health...

in 1947. With public health and tropical medicine rapidly expanding, an administrative division of graduate public health was created in 1958, and was re-designated as the Division of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1961. In 1967, the Hygiene and Tropical Medicine interests reverted to being its own entity of Tulane University and became today's iteration of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Reputation

The mission of Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is to advance public health knowledge, promote health and well-being, and prevent disease, disability, and premature mortality. This is accomplished through academic excellence in the education of public health professionals, rigorous scientific research of public health problems, creative partnerships to advance the practice of public health, and innovative service to the local, national, and international public health community.

The school has more than 1,400 students and 100 faculty. The students, faculty, and staff represent more than 70 cultures from around the world.

Students enroll from more than 40 different countries, and the school remains in the top tier of accredited schools of public health across the country. US News & World Report's 2011 edition ranked the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine 13th among public health programs. In 2008, the school conferred the first bachelor of science in public health degrees to the first undergraduate class of Tulane public health graduates. Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012.

Effects of the Failures of US Government Levees post Hurricane Katrina's 2005 landfall

Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine was forced to close its doors for the first time in 93 years for one semester. This was the result of flooding of Tulane University's Health Science Center Campus in the central business district. Tulane University of Public Health and Tropical Medicine received an outpouring of support from the Association of Schools of Public Health. The Association of Schools of Public Health acknowledge the following of the many examples of outstanding contributions.

The University of Oklahoma College of Public Health assigned a “buddy” to each guest student, who helped the student with the logistics involved in attending a new school, such as enrollment, navigating the campus, library use, etc.

The University of North Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health held a drive to collect needed supplies for their guest students.

The University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health, provided funding for students’ emergency needs.

Alumni from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health

Rollins School of Public Health

The Rollins School of Public Health is the public health school of Emory University. Founded in 1990, RSPH has more than 850 students pursuing master's degrees and over 100 students pursuing doctorate degrees...

donated gift cards for the displaced students to use for personal needs upon their arrival at the Rollins School.

The George Washington University School of Public Health

George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services

Established in July 1997, the School of Public Health and Health Services brought together three longstanding university programs in the schools of medicine, business, and education that we have since expanded substantially. Today, more than 900 students from nearly every U.S. state and more than...

and Health Services coordinated with faculty and students to find housing for displaced students.

The Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

The Columbia Mailman School of Public Health is one of the schools of Columbia University in New York City. It is one of the first schools of public health recognized by the Council on Education for Public Health and remains a leading academic and research institution. The beginnings of the school...

coordinated with faculty and students to find housing for displaced students.

The University of Texas School of Public Health

University of Texas School of Public Health

The University of Texas School of Public Health is one of eight component institutions of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston ....

(UT) was able to accommodate more than 60 students and faculty, and also provided space for Tulane administrators to regroup during the initial stages of crisis recovery.

All throughout the disaster and during recovery, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine faculty have studied and are studying the public health ramifications of the levee failures. Today, Tulane University and the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine remain deeply committed and involved in tangible efforts for a full recovery of New Orleans.

Degrees Conferred

Master of Public Health

The Master of Public Health and the Doctor of Public Health are multi-disciplinary professional degrees awarded for studies in areas related to public health....

(MPH)

Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH)

Master of Health Administration

The Master of Health Administration is a master's-level professional degree granted to students who complete a course of study in the knowledge and competencies needed for careers in health administration, involving the management of hospitals and other health services organizations, as well as...

(MHA)

Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (MPH&TM)

Master of Science

A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...

(MS)

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

(PhD)

Doctor of Science

Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...

(ScD)

Bachelors of Science of Public Health (BSPH)

Location

Tulane's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is located at 1440 Canal St, New Orleans, Louisiana in the Central Business District neighborhood. Its building is one of the tallest buildings in New Orleans, and is colloquially known as the Tidewater

Tidewater (marine services)

Tidewater, Inc. is a publicly traded international petroleum service company headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.. It operates a fleet of boats providing vessels and marine services to the offshore petroleum industry....

building. Tulane University Hospital

Tulane Medical Center

The Tulane Medical Center is a hospital located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Tulane Medical Center has centers covering nearly all major specialties of medicine, and is the primary teaching hospital for the Tulane University School of Medicine...

, Tulane School of Medicine, and the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine are one of the many health related institutions that make up the medical district (see also: Biodistrict New Orleans) within the Central Business District. The medical district is the site of $1.09 billion dollars in new construction for the University Medical Center project that will replace Charity Hospital. An additional ~$1.0bn will be spent in the neighborhood on the new Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System VA Hospital. The Tulane buildings are most easily accessible by road, street car

Streetcars in New Orleans

Streetcars in New Orleans have been an integral part of the city's public transportation network since the first half of the 19th century. The longest of New Orleans' streetcar lines, the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar, is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world,...

and Tulane University Shuttles. The medical district is a short walk from Vieux Carré

Vieux Carre

Vieux Carré may refer to:*New Orleans's French Quarter* Vieux Carré, a play by Tennessee Williams...