TULANE TALK

February 29, 2008

Good morning:

Could it happen in New Orleans? That’s what Karen DeSalvo, vice dean of community affairs and health policy at Tulane University, aims to find out next week when she will lead a group of New Orleans medical leaders, elected officials and neighborhood organizers on a tour of Boston’s Community Health Centers. Karen and her fellow travelers will determine how Boston’s successful system of high quality, cost-effective neighborhood health centers can be replicated in New Orleans.

Ben Sachs, senior vice president and dean of Tulane University School of Medicine, is the organizer of this trip. From his many years working in Boston, Ben knows firsthand how such centers can not only make medical care available for the uninsured but also heal and transform entire neighborhoods by providing space for after-school educational programs, job training and other community-building efforts. Yes, it can happen in New Orleans.

Something else happening in New Orleans next week is the visit by feminist leader Gloria Steinem to Tulane on March 6. Steinem, part of the Newcomb College Institute’s second annual Powerhouse Speakers Series, will speak at 7 p.m. in the Lavin-Bernick Center’s Kendall Cram Lecture Hall. Her talk is free and open to the public.

Another big event on campus next week is the return of the Burkenroad Symposium for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. This year’s symposium, the 15th in the long-running series, is titled “Critical Moments in Leadership: Changing the Rules of the Game.” The symposium will take place at 10 a.m. on March 7, in the Lavin-Bernick Center’s Kendall Cram Lecture Hall. Featured speakers include Holly J. Gregory, a partner with Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Bill Carey, author of Leave No One Behind: Hurricane Katrina and the Rescue of Tulane Hospital; Frank B. Stewart Jr., chairman emeritus of Stewart Enterprises; and Samuel Tinsing Mok, former chief financial officer of the U.S. Department of Labor. The symposium is also free and open to the public. For more information, visit http://freeman.tulane.edu/burkenroadinst/symposium.htm

I will keep you updated on the results of the Boston trip. In the meantime try to take advantage of the two events above or the many other happenings throughout the university.

Have a great weekend,