Susan Krinsky keeping Hugh Long’s mission alive
The name Dr. Hugh Long continues to hold special significance throughout Tulane University and particularly at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Long served as a professor of health policy and management at the school for almost all of the 50 years he was on the faculty of Tulane University.
Long’s impact on generations of students, colleagues, the school and university, and even the field of public health at large continues to be felt to this day. Long helped to establish the hospital administration program at the school, which more than a half a century later has become one of the top-ranked health administration programs in the country.
Susan Krinsky, his wife of 42 years, has worked to ensure Long’s legacy doesn’t get forgotten either. When Long passed away unexpectedly in early 2022, she established the Hugh W. Long Early Career Professorship named in his honor with a gift of $300,000.
"(Public health) is not the kind of thing that you stop being interested in."
-- Susan Krinsky
“That first night, when Dean LaVeist called me, and he said, ‘Is there anything we can do?’ I said, ‘I want a professorship in his name,’” Krinsky says.
As surprising as that might seem to some, it underscores Krinsky’s passion for her husband’s work and legacy.
“(Hugh) was an expert in finance, and I think that's absolutely critical for anybody in the health care field,” she says. “It was frankly the first thing I thought of, that I wanted people to remember him and not just remember him, but remember that subject area, and know that subject area -- learn that subject area. And so it was just very important to me that I create something like that.”
Not content to sit on her initial gift, Krinsky recently committed an additional $200,000 to allow for the Celia Scott Weatherhead School to continue to attract the best candidates for the position.
“This is an instrumental gift for our department and our program,” said Dr. Arthur Mora, chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management. “It’s extremely generous, and such a testament to Hugh, but I think also to Susan. I don't want that to get lost in this, that Susan is honoring Hugh, but Susan has also contributed so much to this degree program as well.”
Mora notes that the department has established a minor at the undergraduate level thanks to the generosity of gifts like Krinsky’s. The potential for a future major – to meet present and future workforce demands -- hinges on continued funding as well.
Krinsky’s passion for public health doesn’t stem merely from the work of her late husband. Also an alumna of the Celia Scott Weatherhead School and former faculty member, Krinsky recalls that it was her father’s work that sparked her interest in health care.
“My father was a clinical psychologist who became the chief executive officer of a private psychiatric hospital, and so it was he who alerted me to the existence of what was then called hospital administration,” Krinsky says.
After receiving her MPH in health administration in 1977, Krinsky matriculated to Yale Law, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree. Her inspiration for law school stemmed from a health law course she took at Tulane.
“I just found it so interesting. That was what made me decide, ‘You know what? Maybe I want to go to law school.’”
After briefly practicing in Washington D.C., a love of New Orleans eventually led her back to Tulane, where she served as dean of admissions at Tulane’s Law School. She held that position for 31 years but never lost her interest in public health, continuing to teach a health law course for the majority of her tenure.
“Susan was my instructor,” Mora said. “She taught me, back when I got my MHA here. And many of the people that are going to read this will also remember Susan from teaching us health law. The topic was so foreign to all of us public health students, but she was so relatable. She really did make the topic approachable, and she remains that way now. She's so humble.”
That connection with the school and teaching public health students has also nourished her own continued curiosity for public health.
“Public health and health generally I've been interested in since the 70s. And it's not the kind of thing that you stop being interested in; I've stayed very close to the topic.”
In 2018, after a stint at the University of Maryland’s King Carey School of Law, Krinsky joined the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), which assists accredited law schools throughout the country with admission-related services. The council also supports prospective law students on every stage of their journey. She is currently the organization’s executive vice president for operations and chief of staff.
She continues to credit the Celia Scott Weatherhead School for its role in her growth as a professional.
“I am grateful for the School of Public Health's role in my own professional development, and I am grateful that they are willing to accept this gift and use it in the way that I would like them to use it, which is to hire a faculty member in the field of healthcare finance.”
