Tonya R. Thurman,'s MPH, PhD, research focuses on establishing an evidence-base for programs serving highly vulnerable children in sub-Saharan Africa. She resides in South Africa as Country Director for the Tulane International office while directing evaluation and intervention development initiatives to guide USAID Southern Africa’s investment in programs for orphans and other vulnerable children and youth. Her projects entail rigorous evaluations, monitoring activities, capacity building, and diverse dissemination strategies to ensure that learning improves service delivery.

David Chae, Sc.D., M.A., is Professor in the Department of Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences and director of the Society, Health, and Racial Equity (SHARE) Lab. His research focuses on social determinants of health inequities and the embodiment of racism. He studies racism as a social-environmental toxin that shapes the inequitable population-level distribution of disease.

Caryn Bell’s research focuses on the unique impacts of socioeconomic status (SES) and place on cardiovascular disease risk factors in Black Americans and racial disparities. Her work explores the nuanced ways in which SES is associated with obesity and related behaviors in Black women and men by examining the role of place and sociocultural factors. She uses varied techniques including spatial statistics and mapping approaches. She also examines how place shapes structural racism in the U.S. and the implications for Black health and racial health inequities.

Brigham Walker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. His research generally focuses on how providers, payers, and patients behave in response to new information or incentives. He is also interested in discrimination and equity topics generally.  He is a Research Affiliate at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), and his CV can be found at www.brigwalker.com/cv

Dr. Ronald Blanton is a physician-scientist who began his career in studies on the molecular biology of parasitic diseases. He returned to the classroom to obtain a master’s degree in genetic epidemiology. Throughout his career, his work has integrated basic laboratory science with field epidemiology to uncover useful epidemiologic relationships and identities. This includes 30 years of experience in Brazil. For schistosomiasis and the flaviviruses dengue and hepatitis C, he identified human genetic determinants of diseases by microsatellite and SNP markers.

Sarah Michaels is a medical entomologist with a focus in vector-borne disease. Her background is in arbovirus surveillance, vector control, operational research and community outreach. Dr. Michaels gained experience in public health practice as an Entomologist at the City of New Orleans Mosquito Control Board and an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist at the Louisiana Office of Public Health. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, she was active in the public health response to provide emergency infectious disease surveillance.

Emily Harris is a clinical instructor in the department of health policy and management. Her academic interests lie in organizational behavior and theory, strategic management, change management, and leadership in healthcare organizations.  

Gene Beyt is an experienced senior physician executive, university faculty, consultant, author, and visual artist. He has served as a program director in internal medicine, a chief medical and a chief quality officer, a professor of medicine, a practicing physician, and a visiting scholar at the Heller School of Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. There he co-edited the book Wisdom Leadership in Academic Health Science Centers: Leading Positive Change.

As a social scientist and mixed methods researcher, the primary focus of Dr. Fleckman's work is the prevention of violence. Her current research interests include the evaluation of structural and community-level mechanisms for the prevention of gun violence, childhood adversity, and intimate partner violence. Much of her work contributes to how such mechanisms can be influenced to reduce risk for violence and promote health equity. Dr. Fleckman works collaboratively with local and national community-based groups and advocacy organizations.