Center for Applied Environmental Public Health

LuAnn White, PhD, DABT is a professor in the Department of Environmental Health in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She serves as the director of the Center for Applied Environmental Public Health which includes the Center of Excellence in Environmental Public Health Tracking. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. Dr. White's research focuses on the prevention of health effects in humans from environmental and occupational agents and environmental risk communication. She has conducted projects to identify exposure to environmental agents and assess and reduce the risk of subsequent health effects in communities. Public health interventions include behavioral aspects as well as the medical and scientific factors that influence exposure and affect health status.She has developed risk communication methods that address the prevention of environmental exposures as well as individual behavioral risk factors that influence chronic diseases. She has launched distance learning master's degree programs in Occupational Health and Safety Management, Occupational Health, and Industrial Hygiene.

Dr. Elizabeth James is Director Distance Learning "Tulane Center for Applied Environmental Public Health" and Clinical Associate Professor at Tulane. Dr. James received her PhD from the Department of Biology in Biochemistry from the John Hopkins University. Prior to coming to Tulane she spent 5 years developing and managing education and research programs for the federal government and industry. She is experienced in the education of adult learners in traditional as well as online modalities. Her current interests include development of immersive technologies for traditional and online education programs. Dr. James is responsible for all aspects of the school of public health's distance learning program including: student advising, course development and planning, tracking of program metrics and reporting for the purpose of meeting accreditation and certification requirements. Dr. James teaches general courses in Toxicology and basic sciences.

Lisa Amoss is an independent management consultant who has worked with not-for profit entities and for profit businesses since 1975. In the business sector, Ms. Amoss has worked in the petro-chemical, banking and utilities industries, as well as with a wide variety of small businesses. From 1987 until 1997 she was a partner in P.J.'s Coffee and Tea, Inc. where she was responsible for franchise development. Ms. Amoss is a member of the adjunct faculty at Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business and School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Since 1978 she has taught organizational behavior, management and entrepreneurship courses in the graduate, undergraduate and executive programs.

James J. Balsamo, Jr, MS, MPH, MHA is a Certified Safety Professional, Certified Hazardous Materials Manager,  Certified Healthcare Safety Professional, Certified Food Safety Professional , Certified Occupational Hearing Conservationist,  Licensed Registered Sanitarian (RS) # 443 in the State of Louisiana , Registered Sanitarian (RS) National Environmental Health Association and Diplomate Laureate of the American Academy of Sanitarians. He is a member of several professional associations (NEHA, AIHA, NFPA, ABSA, CSHEMA, AAS, LEHA, Deep South Chapter of AIHA) and has been actively involved in LEHA as President (twice) and is a member of the LEHA Board of Directors. He is currently the Treasurer of the Louisiana College and University Safety Association. Jim has also been President of the National Environmental Health Association and the American Academy of Sanitarians (AAS) and is currently on the Board of Directors of AAS.

Dr. Joseph Contiguglia graduated from Columbia College, received his M.D.from the University of Siena, an MPH&TM from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and an MBA from St. Mary's University. He has completed residencies in Internal Medicine at NYU and Aerospace Medicine at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine. He is a Clinical Professor of Public Health at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and is a member of the teaching faculty for the South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness and the South Central Public Health Leadership Institute.Colonel Contiguglia retired from the USAF, effective 1 January 2007, as Director of Operational Medicine and chairman of the Department of Military Medicine, Keesler Medical Center, Biloxi, MS. His military experiences include;Surgeon General appointed International Health SpecialistDirector of the 2004/2005 LIFESAVER Exercises.Surgeon 474 EOSS, Apiay, Colombia, supporting the Colombian Special ForcesChief, Medical Operations, United States Air Forces in EuropeSurgeon, 3rd Air Force, responsible for medical operations in sub-Saharan AfricaDeputy Command Surgeon, JTF Shining Hope supporting refugees in the BalkansHeaded NATO preparation team for Operation Allied Force in NW TurkeySurgeon, Joint Task Force - Southwest Asia, Operation Desert StormMedical Commander, Operation Safe Haven, Republic of Panama,Chief, Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, RAAFMedical Program Director of the Tactical Air Warfare Center's Chemical Weapons Defense and Operational Employment ExercisesSurgeon, OPERATION ELF-1, Saudi Arabia (Iran/Iraq War)Medical Project Manager of the South East Asian Refugee Evacuation.

Tom Cecich, MS is an environment, health and safety (EHS) management consultant living in Apex, NC.  He retired from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in 2003 where he served as Vice President, EHS Global Business Support.  During his 30 year corporate career he also had EHS management responsibilities at the IBM and Allied Chemical Corporations.  In addition to serving as an adjunct instructor for Tulane, he is a frequent speaker on EHS topics and is national instructor for the American Society of Safety Engineers teaching the ASSE's Executive Safety Management curriculum. He is also a member of the ORC Worldwide's safety and health consulting practice in Washington, DC. He is a past member of the Board of Certified Safety Professionals and was President of the BCSP in 1997.

Mr. Cetrulo is an attorney living in Boston, Massachusetts.  For more than 35 years, Mr. Cetrulo has been among the nation's top trial attorneys.  In 1996, he founded his own law firm, specializing in toxic torts, environmental, and products liability litigation.  His firm has been the fastest-growing law firm in Massachusetts for several years running.  Mr. Cetrulo is National Coordinating Counsel for a Fortune 500 company's toxic torts litigation, in which capacity he monitors developments throughout the country and decides on appropriate responses.  He is also an accomplished speaker, appearing on television programs, at conferences, and teaching courses regularly.   He authors a treatise on toxic torts litigation published by ThomsonWest, Toxic Torts Litigation Guide. 

 Dr. Ronald Goans is presently Adjunct Associate Professor at CAEPH and senior medical consultant with MJW Corporation where he provides radiation medicine consultation to the current DOE/NIOSH EEOICPA dose reconstruction project. In addition, Dr. Goans is senior scientific advisor and staff physician at the Department of Energy's Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) in Oak Ridge, TN. Dr. Goans is board-certified in Occupational Medicine and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Preventive Medicine. In addition, he is a certified Medical Review Officer (MRO) for workplace drug testing. Dr. Goans received the MD degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine in 1983 and a PhD in radiation physics from the University of Tennessee in 1974. In addition, he received the MPH in Occupational Health and Safety Management from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2000. Dr. Goans has active medical licensure in Tennessee, Virginia, and Maryland. Dr. Goans' current research interests include development of mathematical methods for the early estimation of radiation dose after either a radiation accident or a nuclear weapons event.

Dr. Leemann has a Ph.D. in Systemic Management from the Union Institute and University and two masters from Tulane, one in Industrial Hygiene from the School of Public Health and one in Environmental Engineering from the School of Engineering. He has more than 35 years experience in corporate and business-line management of safety, health, and environmental functions at DuPont and Conoco. Dr. Leemann teaches occupational health and safety management. His research interests involve the competencies needed to be a superior performer in the safety, health, environmental, and occupational medicine professions. His consulting practice focuses on the use of systems thinking and interactive planning to enhance the value and performance of these functions in organizations.  Dr. Leemann writes a monthly Systems Thinking column in Industrial Safety & Hygiene News.

Roy J. Rando, Sc.D., C.I.H. is Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Science in the School of Public Health, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine. He is the Academic Director of the ABET-accredited industrial hygiene program at Tulane School of Public Health. Dr. Rando holds the BS degree in Chemistry from the University of New Orleans, and MSPH and ScD degrees in Environmental Health Science from Tulane University.  He has over 30 years of research experience which has been focused on the etiology, epidemiology and exposure assessment for respiratory toxicants in the workplace and indoor environments.  Currently, his research involves an epidemiologic investigation of respiratory health effects associated with demolition and construction work in the post-Katrina environment, techniques for assessing industrial wood dust exposure, and statistical and methodological strategies for minimizing the impact of the large sample size problem on occupational exposure assessments.

Dr. Jacqueline Rhoads is a professor and Graduate Program Director at the University Of Texas Medical Branch School Of Nursing in Galveston Texas.  She has education preparation and certification as an Acute Care, Family, Gerontological, and Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.  She maintains clinical competence through direct patient care in acute- and primary-care settings. Her experience includes numerous leadership positions in the in the US Army and major positions in schools of nursing and colleges of nursing in both private and public universities  In June 2007, Dr. Rhoads was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.  Dr. Rhoads has been a member of NONPF for 15 years.  During that time, she has served on the Nominating Committee and Member Resources Committee.

Barbara Reynolds' communication expertise has been used in the planning or response to pandemic influenza, vaccine safety, emerging disease outbreaks and bioterrorism while at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Internationally, she has acted as a crisis communication consultant on health issues for France, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, former Soviet Union nations, NATO, Indonesia, Mexico and the World Health Organization. Dr. Reynolds is the author of the 2002 book Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication and CDC's Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication course, which is now taught in universities and other settings nationwide and internationally. In 2004, she launched a version of the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication course for leaders. Her research and writings are focused on emergency risk communication best practices, crisis leadership, integrating models of communication for public health, and building community hardiness in the face of disaster. She is an adjunct assistant professor at Tulane University.

Dr Swift is currently the Co-medical director of the East Jefferson General Hospital Occupational Medicine Clinics. His clinical practice is devoted to the evaluation and treatment of occupational and environmental illnesses and injuries, a field in which he has over 20 years of experience. Dr Swift is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the Dept of Medicine at Tulane's School of Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Environmental Health at the School of Public Health. Dr Swift obtained his MD from the LSU School of Medicine and his Master of Science in Public Health at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Arti Shankar, PhD, Organizational Behavior, Indian Institute of Technology, India, 1993 MS, Psychology, Gorakhpur University, India, 1987 BS, Psychology, Specialization-Clinical Behavior Gorakhpur University, India, 1985. Her professional achievements include: School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Student Government Association Teaching Excellence Award 2006 Honorary Member, Delta Omega Society in Public Health, Eta Chapter, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (2005) University Grants Commission fellow 1988 National Merit Scholarship 1986.

 Dr. Abdelghani has worked for national and international health organizations and ministries of health in many countries including Mexico, Honduras, Taiwan, Kazakhstan, Jordan and others. Responsibilities included assessment of the impact of biological and chemical contaminants on human health and the environment, control of communicable disease, health education, immunizations, food and water protection, air quality, solid waste disposal, control of vectors of disease. Dr. Abdelghani also serves on the editorial board of such journals as the Journal of Environmental Toxicology, and Reviews On Environmental Health.

Susan Welch, MSPH, is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) and a Registered Sanitarian (RS) in the State of Louisiana. She is a member of several professional associations (AIHA, ACGIH, ASSE, NEHA) and has been actively involved in local chapters of AIHA and NEHA. As an alumna of the Tulane SPHTM, she was inducted into the Eta chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health in 1993. Susan has over 25 years of safety and industrial hygiene experience including work as an expert witness and an independent consultant. She currently has a staff position as Assistant Director in Tulane University's Office of Environmental Health and Safety. As an adjunct instructor with Tulane, she has taught ENHS 672 "Principles of Industrial Hygiene" since 1998.