Faculty and Staff

Faculty & Staff
	Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH (she/her) Research Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Director, Center for Gulf Coast Environmental Health Research, Leadership & Strategic Initiatives Maureen Lichtveld has a 30 year track record in environmental public health with research interests in environmentally-induced disease and special emphasis on health disparities; community-based participatory research; disaster preparedness, environmental health policy; and public health systems. Dr. Lichtveld has served as an expert consultant to the Institute of Medicine for many years on contemporary public health issues ranging from the adverse health consequences of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to public health systems, and disaster preparedness. Dr. Lichtveld brings together a cadre of regional research expertise to advance innovative, community-centered, transdisciplinary research.
	Hannah Covert, PhD (she/her) Research Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Associate Director, Center for Gulf Coast Environmental Health Research, Leadership & Strategic Initiatives Hannah leads and evaluates the Center's research and capacity building projects. An interdisciplinary researcher, she currently focuses on climate change adaptation, environmental health literacy, developing education and training programs for environmental health professionals and community members, and community health worker program evaluation. Hannah came to the Center after managing international education and graduate academic programs for 15 years. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida (UF). Hannah received her PhD in higher education administration from UF. She has an MA in Latin American Studies with a specialization in cultural anthropology from UF and a BA in Spanish from Middlebury College.
	Lissa Fortes Soares, PhD (she/her) Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Health Sciences Lissa received her bachelor of arts degree in environmental sciences and human rights from Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City. With an interest in public health, she studied disaster management earning an MPH at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. At Tulane, she continued to study the risk-benefit of consuming mercury-contaminated fish among pregnant women in Suriname, South America, earning her PhD in environmental health. Lissa was exposed to research as an undergraduate intern, graduate research assistant, NIH-Fogarty trainee, and now as a postdoctoral fellow at Tulane University. She has also worked as a teacher’s assistant, and graduate mentor in the Emerging Scholars research program. Her long-term career goal is to be a professor investigating children’s environmental health.
	Jasmine Fournier, MS (she/her) Assistant Director, Center for Gulf Coast Environmental Health Research, Leadership & Strategic Initiatives Jasmine has over 10 years of public health experience working in public health in New Orleans. She did her undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania studying Economics & Public Health. She holds a Masters degree in Microbiology and Immunology with a focus on the spread of HIV in human populations. She began her public health career working at the City of New Orleans Mayor's Office of Health Policy & AIDS funding in 2008. After she completed her Masters degree, she transitioned to working in research at Tulane University with adolescents. The research focused on HIV prevention and treatment through a strengths based intervention. She joined the Center for Gulf Coast Environmental Health Research in 2020.
	Charles Miller, PhD (he/him) Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Dr. Miller has an extensive career in environmental health sciences. He will teach students about air and environmental health during the second week. He is currently the interim chair of Tulane's Department of Environmental Health Sciences investigating how dioxins, PCBs, PAHs, and other toxic chemicals act through receptor signaling networks, and how Hsp90 and its co-chaperone proteins modulate toxic responses.
	Samendra Sherchan, PhD (he/him) Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Dr. Sherchan is an environmental health microbiologist. He will teach students about water and environmental health during the first week. He currently teaches a survey of environmental health science course, water quality management and environmental health microbiology.

Faculty and Staff

Faculty & Staff