Stephen Murphy, PhD, MPH, MBA
Assistant Professor
Education & Affiliations
Biography
Dr. Murphy leads the Disaster Management Program, leveraging his nearly two decades of practice-based experience shaping and implementing local, state, federal, and private sector public health emergency preparedness, health security, homeland security, and disaster management programs.
Dr. Murphy serves as the Director of the Center for Applied Environmental Public Health (CAEPH - pronounced "safe"), being appointed to the leadership role after working for years with Dr. LuAnn White, the founder and director from 1992-2023. CAEPH was formed in 1992 as a University coordinating center for environmental public health and emergency preparedness practice-based projects; 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 Framework to Improve Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (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 disaster resilience and health security strategies. He is passionate about teaching and typically leads multiple graduate courses and an undergraduate course each year. Courses: Environmental Aspects of Disasters (ENHS 6910); Planning and Implementation in Disasters (ENHS 6930).
View Dr. Murphy’s publications at his NCBI profile page.
Research Areas
- Health security
- Disaster management and resilience
- Public health emergency preparedness
- Disasters and climate
- Development and translation of effective disaster policy into practice
- Crisis leadership
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:
- Polen, A, J.M. Collins, E. Dunn, S. Murphy, I. Jernigan, K. McSweeney, Y. Zhu. (2023). How Post-Immunization COVID-19 Context Affected Residents’ Evacuation Behavior During Hurricane Ida. Weather, Climate, and Society. Accepted May 2023 / In Press
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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 6930 Planning and Implementation in Disasters
SPHU 3330 Disasters and Environmental Health
