Faculty

Assaf Abdelghani's current research and teaching focus on the fate of chemical substances in the environment, including point (industrial) and non-point (agricultural pesticide) source pollution. His studies trace the fate of these chemical substances in human exposure, distribution and elimination by food chain organisms, and persistence studies.

Abdelghani has worked for many national and international health organizations and ministries of health around the globe, including work in Mexico, Honduras, Taiwan, Kazakhstan, and Jordan, among others. His responsibilities included assessing the impact of biological and chemical contaminants on human health and the environment, controlling communicable diseases, health education, immunizations, food and water protection, air quality, solid waste disposal and controlling vectors of disease.

Abdelghani also serves the director of the Environmental Health Laboratories, which are an integrated part of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. These laboratories are equipped for the teaching and analysis of field and laboratory samples including: aquatic organisms (fish, shrimp, crawfish, etc.), water, vegetation, soil, sediment, air, animal tissues, and urine and blood from both humans and animals. These samples are analyzed for inorganic and organic contaminants.

Abdelghani is on the editorial board of International Journals such as Environmental Toxicology, and Reviews On Environmental Health. He has contributed to numerous publications dealing with the fate of chemical and biological contaminants in the environment.

Education
DPH environmental health sciences, Environmental Training Center, Amman, Jordan, 1959
DPH environmental health sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon, 1960
BS environmental health sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon, 1967
MSPH environmental health sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1972
ScD environmental health sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1978

Ann Anderson has been a member of the faculty at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine since 1969. In 1991, she became associate dean for academic affairs, and served as acting dean from January through December of 1996. In addition to her current role as senior associate dean, she served as the acting director of Tulane Medical Center for Women's Health from 1995 through 1998. She recently co-chaired the school's Self Study Steering Committee and directed the writing of the Self Study Report for Accreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). This resulted in a seven-year accreditation, the maximum awarded, by the council. She also chaired the 1995 Strategic Planning Committee for the School.

Anderson serves as a liaison for the Louisiana Office of Public Health to facilitate public health practice initiatives. She recently developed the South Central Public Health Leadership Institute in cooperation with the office and the departments of health in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi.

In addition to curriculum development, Anderson teaches a course in environmental health. Her research interests focus on the fate and persistence of toxicants in the environment including biodegradation and bioaccumulation, and toxicity testing using microorganisms and aquatic biota.

Anderson has over 150 professional publications and presentations in environmental microbiology and environmental health. She developed a computer based training program in toxicology and risk assessment, which was sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Anderson chairs the steering committee of the Association of Schools of Public Health Cooperative Agreement with the Health Resources and Services Administration.She is a counselor for the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council, a member of the New Orleans Mosquito Control Advisory Board, and a formal member of the Public Health Subcommittee of the EPA Gulf of Mexico Program. She is the United States' associate editor for the international journal, Environmental Toxicology and Water Quality.

Education
BS (Magna Cum Laude), Loyola University
MS Louisiana State University Medical Center
PhD Louisiana State University Medical Center

I received my medical degree from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts in 1988 and completed a combined residency in pediatrics, adult psychiatry and child psychiatry at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in 1993. During my last year of training, I wrote my first grant for a four-year physician/scientist research career development award that was sponsored jointly by the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The funding I received allowed me to study the social and emotional development of high-risk children under five years of age. Specifically, I worked with families who had children in foster care or were living in a shelter to identify and study young children with attachment disorders. Since entering the wide world of public health, I've had a chance to combine my interests in child development and psychology with illness prevention.

In August of 1998, I came to Tulane with the promise of teaching a diverse group of students, while continuing to build my research focus and do clinical work with medically-ill kids. I teach child development and public health, isues in adolescent health and preventive intervention in childhood and adolescence, and am a guest lecture in a number of other classes. My research includes evaluating an intensive home visiting project serving low-income mothers and conducting a unique follow-up study of abused and neglected children who were first seen before the age of four. I am also lucky enough to be the co-director of the child psychiatry consultation service covering the pediatric wards and intensive care units at Tulane Medical Center and University Hospital.

When I get the chance, I love to tour the world by bicycle, read novels, write a little poetry, and enjoy family and friends. You'll also regularly find me catching some blues at local clubs - New Orleans is a field of dreams when it comes to music!

Stuart Capper is a professor in health systems management. He is also assistant director of the Food Safety Initiative at the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is a member of the faculty of the CDC preventive medicine residency program.

Capper was previously associate dean of the School of Public Health and chairman of the health care organization and policy department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Prior to his appointment at UAB in 1977, he served as senior staff to the chancellor of the Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans. He also has held administrative positions in hospitals, facilities for the mentally retarded, and a health systems agency. Through the Sparkman Center for International Public Health Education, Capper has taught graduate public health management courses at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru and the Chiang Mai University Medical Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Capper has been the principal investigator or co-principle investigator on projects concerning the implementation of strategic management processes in several state health departments. He has received funding from the Bureau of Health Professions to conduct management case research for public health practice in collaboration with public health practitioners, and he has been funded by the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health for the development and presentation of masters level management courses for MCH students. He has been funded by HRSA for the development and presentation of internet-based continuing education programs for public health practitioners, and he is currently funded by the CDC to conduct case research on food safety and to work on bioterrorism preparedness efforts. His publications in the area of public health management have appeared in journals such as Public Health Reports, Public Productivity and Management Review, Health Services Management Review, Preventive Medicine, Academic Medicine, The European Journal of Public Health and the Case Research Journal. He is senior author of the book Public Health Leadership and Management: Cases and Context (Sage Publishers).

Education
BS psychology, Tulane University, 1969
MPH health services and hospital administration, Tulane University 1971
DrPH health systems management, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1971
certificate in mediation, Jones School of Law, Montgomery, Alabama, 1997

My work in prevention of STDs/HIV led me toward population-based interventions to address the underlying causes of high-risk sexual behavior. Because these underlying causes influence other diseases and injuries as well, I moved from infectious disease control at the health department to the department of community health sciences at Tulane. I am interested in developing, implementing, and evaluating population-based interventions for a range of health problems, particularly interventions that act on our social and physical environment. As chair of the community health sciences department, I also plan to build on the department's strengths in teaching, research, and community service. I would like our department to be known for training effective public health leaders, conducting research that is innovative and important to public health, and improving the health of our local communities.

Education
BA, mathematics, Haverford College 1977
MD, Tulane University 1981
Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1989
MPH, Tulane University 1991

Research Interests
prevention of STDs/HIV
social and physical environmental determinants of health

Mark A. James, PhD

Suite 2214 , Tidewater Building
1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 988-2503 Fax: (504) 988-7313
e-mail: mjames@tulane.edu

Academic/Research Interests: Mark James' laboratory carries out research on parasite immunity, most of which is dedicated to the study of immunity to the malarial parasite. His focus has been on the use of non-human primate vaccine models for tropical parasitic diseases, development of synthetic peptide-based immunoassays, and the study of cytokine responses to acute plasmodium infections. Other recent studies have targeted the prevention and control of tuberculosis in the homeless population of New Orleans. James and his colleagues hope to show that a comprehensive approach to tuberculosis control in homeless shelters may be as effective as strategies based on isolation and directly observed therapy of affected patients. Finally, James is planning investigations designed to identify biomarkers of fungal exposure and disease in asthmatics.

James received the Excellence in Teaching Award (awarded by students) in 1990, 1996, 1997, and 1998; and the Teaching Scholar Award (awarded by peers) in 1999.

Education
BS zoology, University of Wisconsin, 1972
MS zoology, University of Illinois, 1975
PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Departmental 1979

Suite 2200-10, Tidewater Building
1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 988-3655 Fax: (504) 988-3653
e-mail: pjessop@tulane.edu

Penny Jessop joined joined the Peace Corps after college, spending three and a half years in Niger, West Africa, as a health volunteer. She later spent two and half years in Puerto Rico doing hospital administration and learning Spanish. After six years in the tropics, when she was looking for a master's program, Penny sought out a warm climate and settled on New Orleans where she earned a master of public health in administration with honors at Tulane University.

After two years of work doing grants and contracts administration for Tulane, she jointed the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She has coordinated the school's Humphrey Program since 1979. Penny is also responsible for coordinating the master's and doctoral level training of more than 300 students from fifty different countries each year. Over the years, Penny has also conducted short-term public health training programs for participants from Colombia, Guatemala and Ecuador. Penny will be co-teaching SPHL 601: Epidemics, Revolutions, and Response: The Historical Development of Public Health for the undergraduate public health program. Penny speaks English, French, Spanish, and Djerma/Songhai.

Education
BA, sociology, Drew University
MPH, Tulane University

Carl Kendall, PhD

Suite 2216, Tidewater Building
1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone:(504) 988-2334 Fax:(504) 988-3653
e-mail: ckendall@tulane.edu

Carl Kendall is a medical anthropologist with more than thirty years of experience in international health. Kendall first joined the department in 1993, after moving from Johns Hopkins University department of international health where he was director of the Center for International Community-Based Health Research. From 1998 to 2000 he served as head of the maternal and child epidemiology unit, department of epidemiology and population health, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His prior positions include serving as chief of the behavioral research unit, AIDS Control and Prevention Project (AIDSCAP), of Family Health International.

Kendall has served on a number of professional panels: governing council of the American Public Health Association 1999 to 2001; surveillance advisory group, Centers for Diseased Control-Global AIDS Program; FHI AIDS technical advisory committee; special emphasis panel, Institutional Pathways Towards Strengthening HIV Prevention in Minority Communities, National Institutes of Health; chair, special emphasis panel, international studies on drug abuse and HIV/AIDS, National Institute on Drug Abuse; and the Board of International Health, committees on malaria prevention and control, and data and research priorities for arresting AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, National Academy of Sciences. He is a frequent consultant to HIV/AIDS and child health programs in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Education
BA anthropology, Swarthmore College, 1969
MA, PhD anthropology, University of Rochester, 1974
National Institutues of Health Post-Doctoral Fellow, Michigan State University, 1979-1980

John J. Lefante, PhD

Suite 2013, Tidewater Building
1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 988-7874 - Fax: (504) 988-1706
e-mail: lefante@tulane.edu

Research Interests
longitudinal data analysis
occupational health studies
health care access and evaluation

Education
BS, math education, University of New Orleans, 1974
MS, mathematics, University of New Orleans, 1976
PhD, biostatistics, University of Alabama in Birmingham, 1981

John Lefante has twenty-three years of experience teaching a variety of statistics courses including: Introductory Biostatistics, Intermediate Biostatistics, Regression Analyses, Sampling, Non-Parametric Statistical Methods, and Probability and Mathematical Statistics. In addition, Lefante has extensive experience teaching managerial biostatistics courses in the masters of medical management, the executive masters of health administration, and the executive doctor of science in health administration programs in the department of health systems management at Tulane.

On four occasions he has been the recipient of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Excellence in Teaching Award (1993, 1995, 2001, and 2004), as well as a recipient of the Department of Health Systems Management Masters of Medical Management Excellence in Teaching Award (1997) and the Department of Health Systems Management Executive Masters of Health Administration Teaching Award (2002). In 2004, Lefante was a finalist for the prestigious Tulane Senior Vice Presidents' Teaching Scholar Award.

Lefante's research interests focus on statistical analyses and evaluation of health effects data, including statistical methodology for study design, sample size and power calculations, especially for longitudinal data. He is the principal investigator on a grant through the Rapides Foundation to provide an evaluation of the level of success and ongoing progress of an existing pharmaceutical care program for residents of central Louisiana. (The CENLA Medication Access Program). He was a participating investigator for five years in environmental and occupational epidemiological studies as part of Tulane's specialized center of research in occupational and fibrotic lung diseases.

Lefante holds an adjunct appointment at Tulane University School of Medicine, with seventeen years of experience collaborating on occupational lung studies with investigators in the pulmonary research section. He has participated in long-term studies of health effects of workers in a variety of industries, including cotton textile, chlorine manufacturing and use, wood processing and manufacturing, and paper processing. Dr. Lefante has over seventy published manuscripts and abstracts in the areas of occupational medicine, cancer research, health care evaluation, and statistical methods.

Kate Macintyre, PhD

Suite 2200, Tidewater Building
1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 988-5185 - Fax: (504) 988-3653
e-mail: kmacint@tulane.edu

Kate Macintyre has more than fifteen years of professional international experience in the areas of program management, health policy, reproductive health (including adolescent reproductive health, maternal health and HIV/AIDS), behavior change programming for infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, monitoring and evaluation, and survey/sampling methods.

Macintyre has worked in Latin America and Africa, and is currently focused on projects in Eritrea, Kenya and South Africa. Her projects in Kenya and South Africa are looking at interventions to reduce the burden of malaria, implementing HIV/AIDS programs to reduce stigma and discrimination, and measuring the impact of school-based interventions on adolescent reproductive health. She has more than fifteen peer-reviewed publications.

Macintyre worked on The Evaluation Project from 1993 through 1996 with Professor Bilsborrow from the University of North Carolina, to test the quality and cost of data gathered using rapid assessment surveys for family planning evaluation in Ecuador. She has also been intensively working for the past two years on the MEASURE Evaluation Project, focusing on malaria and tuberculosis measurement issues for monitoring and evaluation. Macintyre has also been advising and supporting the development of a multidisciplinary doctoral training program for the National Cuban School for Public Health in Havana. Macintyre received her doctorate from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in Health Policy and Administration.

Education
MA, BA modern history, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, 1984
MSPH department of health policy and administration, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1992
PhD department of health policy and administration, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1997

Frances Mather, PhD

Suite 2035, Tidewater Building
1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112
Telephone: (504) 988-7329 Fax: (504) 988-1706
Email: mather@tulane.edu

Frances Mather received her doctorate in biostatistics from Tulane in 1975 and became an associate professor in the department of biostatistics and epidemiology in 1981. In Betheda, Maryland, Mather served as assistant to the chief of the biometric research branch before subsequently returning to Tulane in 1988 to serve as adjunct associate professor for the department of surgery. Ten years later, Mather became the assistant dean for academic information systems at the School.

Mather's research areas include clinical trials, survival analysis, evaluation of maternal and child health programs, and design and implementation of database management systems. She was a long-time member of the research grant review committee for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau and was awarded the NIH, FIC Global Infectious Disease Research Training Program Award in 2004. She has published over fify peer-reviewed papers.

Research Interests
survivial analysis
clinical trials
data base management

Education
BS, mining engineering, University of Alberta, Canada 1959
MS, statistics, University of Michigan, 1969
PhD, biostatistics, Tulane University, 1975

Charles Miller received his bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. There, he worked as a research associate in the pharmacology and biochemistry departments, as well as at the cancer center. He has studied anti-malarial drug toxicity with Roy Mundy, chemical carcinogenesis with Awni Sarrif, colon cancer biology with Michael Brattain, and the immunology of natural killer cells with Toru Abo and Charles Balch.

Miller joined Max Costa's laboratory and studied carcinogenic mechanisms of nickel and chromium compounds and earned a doctor of philosophy degree in environmental oncology from the Sackler School of Basic Medical Sciences of New York University. During this time, he was the recipient of a fellowship from Shell Oil Company. His post-doctoral research was conducted in David Kowalski's laboratory at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. There he described several new DNA replication origins in yeast. He is presently an associate professor in the Environmental Health Sciences Department at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Miller's research interests include understanding the mechanisms of receptor-mediated toxicity. This research is relevant to public health because many environmental chemicals (both natural and anthropogenic) exert toxic effects through receptors. Specifically, his research focuses on how chaperone (heat shock) proteins regulate the aryl hydrocarbon (dioxin) receptor

Education
BS, biology, University of Alabama in Birmingham 1981
PhD, basic medical sciences (environmental oncology), Sackler School of Basic Medical Sciences, New York University, 1990
Postdoctoral training, DNA replication, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, 1990-1993

Nancy Mock

Suite 2200, Tidewater Building
1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone:(504) 988-7318 Fax: (504) 988-3653
e-mail: mock@tulane.edu

Nancy Mock currently serves as the director of the Tulane Center for International Resource Development, and is a tenured associate professor in the department of international health and development at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. As center director, she is responsible for the development and management of international projects valued at over 4.5 million dollars annually.

Nancy has nearly twenty years of international experience in health sector program design and research. Currently, she is working on the Support for Analysis and Research in Africa (SARA) project, which is designed to improve the gathering, synthesis and dissemination of information about common health problems and emerging social issues in Africa, in an effort to improve the efficiency of the health and social sectors. In addition, she is involved in the Complex Emergency Response and Transition Initiative (CERTI), a crisis coordination project that aims to prevent and mitigate conflict, improve timely and appropriate response, and offers support to populations affected by conflict in transition.

She is also currently involved in the development of a school of public health in Rwanda. Dr. Mock has field experience in all major geographic regions of the developing world, is fluent in French and competent in Spanish.

Education
BS biology, Yale University, 1976
MPH international health and planning and evaluation, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1979
DrPH international health/nutritional epidemiology, Tulane University, 1985