Dr. Gretchen Clum named associate dean for strategic initiatives

Dr. Thomas LaVeist, dean of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, announced today that Dr. Gretchen Clum would be named to the role of associate dean for strategic initiatives for the school. Clum, an associate professor, has been on faculty in the Department of Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences for 18 years. Clum most served as interim chair of her department over the past two years.

As associate dean for strategic initiatives, Clum will continue work initiated by Mollye Demosthenidy who recently became dean of Newcomb-Tulane College. The role primarily focuses on the school’s academic pathway partnerships. In the past few years, the school has greatly expanded its partnerships to include undergraduate colleges like Loyola and Dillard University in New Orleans, Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, Millsaps College in Mississippi, and Claflin University in South Carolina.

Clum will continue engaging academic peers in partnerships and has ideas for other strategic initiatives designed to advance the education and training provided by SPHTM.

“There is a need for an expanding pool of public health practitioners, especially practitioners from underrepresented populations,” said LaVeist. “I know Gretchen will continue to forge new pathways for students to advance their education here at Tulane.”

As a researcher, Clum’s work focuses on exposure to stressful events, mental health, and health outcomes in relation to sexual risk behavior and substance use in women and adolescents. She has worked primarily with vulnerable populations, including women who have experienced violence and HIV-positive adolescents.