Stephen Murphy, PhD, MPH, MBA

Assistant Professor

Director - Disaster Management and ENHS MPH Programs
Director - Center for Applied Environmental Public Health
Phone
504-988-1173
Stephen Murphy, PhD, MPH, MBA

Education & Affiliations

PhD, Tulane University
MPH, Tulane University
MBA, Mercer University
BA, University of Georgia

Biography

See what Dr. Murphy is doing and how students are engaged.

 

Dr. Murphy leads the Disaster Management Program and the MS in Health Security, leveraging his nearly two decades of leadership experience shaping and implementing local, state, federal, and private sector health security, public health emergency preparedness, homeland security, and disaster management programs. 

Dr. Murphy serves as the Director of the Center for Applied Environmental Public Health (CAEPH - pronounced "safe"). CAEPH was formed in 1992 as a University coordinating center for environmental public health and emergency preparedness practice-based projects. Today, the center continues to focus on the translation of research and lessons learned to practice and workforce capacity building. 

CAEPH projects under Dr. Murphy's leadership include the Region 6 Public Health Training Center (and its Leadership Institute) and the Region 6 Center for Health Security & Response Readiness (funded by the CDC).

His experience includes developing and managing preparedness plans, exercises, and operational responses for major metropolitan jurisdictions addressing health threats such as COVID-19, Ebola Virus Disease, hurricane evacuation, pandemic influenza, coastal oil spills as well as planning for high-threat events of national significance such as the Super Bowl and other large-scale mass gatherings. He continues to serve his field by participating in a First Responder Workgroup and Task Force with the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, a resource typing project with FEMA, and has served on numerous state-wide advisory boards in Louisiana. Prior to his academic appointment, Dr. Murphy served as the Chief of Planning and Preparedness for the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness in the years following Hurricane Katrina. 

Dr. Murphy’s research is focused on developing effective, actionable health security strategies to improve the national security enterprise. He is passionate about teaching and typically leads multiple graduate courses and an undergraduate course each year. Courses: Health Security Threats (ENHS 6910); Outbreak and Disaster Response Readiness (ENHS 7130, formerly 6930). 

View Dr. Murphy’s publications at his NCBI profile page.

Research Areas

  • Health security
  • Public health emergency preparedness
  • Crisis leadership
  • Disaster management and resilience
  • Extreme weather and health
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Honors & Awards

  • 2017: Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research and Presentation for a Doctoral Student; Tulane Health Sciences 
  • 2016-2018 Faculty Fellow - Homeland Security Studies; Tulane School of Professional Advancement
  • 2011-2014: Advisory Board - Louisiana’s HHS Hospital Preparedness Program
  • 2011-2014: Advisory Board - Louisiana’s CDC Senior Advisory Committee 
  • Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health – Eta Chapter

Publications

Select publications (* student co-author; ‡ senior corresponding author):

  1. Collins, J., Dunn, E.A., Jones, R.K., Polen, N.R., Murphy, S., & Welford, M. (2024). Hurricane Risk Perceptions and Evacuation Decision-Making in the Postvaccine Era of COVID-19 in U.S. Coastal States Impacted by North Atlantic Hurricanes. Weather, Climate, and Society, 16(1), 51-65. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-23-0003.1
  2. Burton, S*. Landers, T., Wilson, M., Ortiz Gumina, C., Persaud, A., Ransom, M., Fox, L., Murphy, S.‡ Public health infection prevention: An analysis of existing training during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health, Volume 222, 2023, Pages 7-12, ISSN 0033-3506, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2023.06.029. 
  3. Polen, A., Collins, J., Dunn, E., Murphy, S., Jernigan, I., McSweeney, K., & Zhu, Y. (2023). How Post-Immunization COVID-19 Context Affected Residents’ Evacuation Behavior during Hurricane Ida. Weather, Climate, and Society, 15(3), 541-555. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-22-0114.1 
  4. Leonhardt MM*, Spartz JR*, Shankar A, Murphy SA‡. (2023). Fatal drug use in the COVID-19 pandemic response: Changing trends in drug-involved deaths before and after stay-at-home orders in Louisiana. Front Public Health. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1117841. PMID: 37113181; PMCID: PMC10126274.
  5. Wilson, M., Wickliffe, J., Sherchan, S., Aw, T., & Murphy, S. ‡ (2020). The Environmental Health and Emergency Preparedness Impacts of Hurricane Katrina. American Journal of Public Health, 110(no. 10), 1476–1477. PMID: 32903082. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305819
  6. Murphy, S., Jani, D., & Elder, J. (2020). Public Health Integration Into Public Safety in Post-Katrina New Orleans. American Journal of Public Health, 110(no. 10), 1490–1492. PMID: 32903073. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305750
  7. Murphy, S., Brown, J., Shankar, A., Lichtveld, M. (2019). A quantitative assessment of higher education disaster preparedness and resilience. Journal of Emergency Management. 2019 May/June; 17(3):239-250. PMID: 31245835. https://doi: 10.5055/jem.2019.0423.
  8. Murphy, S., Lichtveld, M. (2018). Examining the presence of professional emergency management coordinators driving preparedness and resilience on university campuses. Journal of Emergency Management. 2018 Mar/Apr;16(2):126-130. PMID: 29791006. https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.2018.0361.

Courses

ENHS 6910 Health Security Threats (formerly titled Environmental Aspects of Disasters)
ENHS 6930 Planning and Implementation in Disasters
ENHS 7130 Outbreak & Disaster Response Readiness
SPHU 3330 Disasters and Environmental Health