LSU - School of Public Health - Research & Services Programs

Three Cancer Information, Detection and Control Initiatives are administered on a statewide basis by the School of Public Health sections of Epidemiology and of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention:

The Louisiana Cancer Information Service (CIS), part of the Mid-South Cancer Information Services and funded by the National Cancer Institute, provides cancer resources, data and information to underserved populations and non profit groups.

The Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program (LBCHP), funded by and part of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides access to lifesaving services for early detection of breast and cervical cancers to low-income, uninsured, and underserved women in Louisiana.

The Louisiana Cancer Control Partnership, also funded by the CDC, is a coalition dedicated to reducing cancer disparities by providing a comprehensive, integrated, and coordinated approach to the continuum of cancer control service delivery.

Louisiana is one of only two states in which the CDC funding for these cancer initiatives goes directly to an academic institution rather than the state health department.

Louisiana Healthy Aging Center
The population of the United States is aging. In 1900, less than 5% of people were over the age of 60. Today, this number exceeds 16%, and in the year 2030 it will be in excess of 25%. Even more drastically, the oldest-old, those over the age of 85, have been increasing at a rate six-times higher than the overall population. In the decade ending in 1990, those over 65 in Louisiana increased by 17%, compared to a 0.3% increase in the general population.

Because the citizens of Louisiana can look forward to an ever-increasing lifespan, the Louisiana Healthy Aging Center is dedicated to keeping pace by enhancing the quality of those years through research, education, and patient care. This effort engages scientists and clinicians from many disciplines and specialties, reflecting the complex nature of the aging process. It also involves alliances with institutions around Louisiana and within the Southeastern region.

Contracted by the Louisiana Office of Youth Development (OYD), the LSUHSC Juvenile Justice Program (JJP) is a multi-disciplinary healthcare provider, providing a range of medical, nursing, dental and selected mental health care services to youth in the state’s secure juvenile facilities. JJP began as a concept into a comprehensive network of health services over the past seven (7) years. Through the provision of quality health services, JJP played an integral role in assisting the state receive its May 2006 early release from federal government oversight.

LSU JJP is working to expand its efforts to the broader community through contracts & grants for direct care services, program development, professional training and program evaluation.

LBCHP is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) which is active in all 50 US states, as well as US territories and tribal organizations. NBCCEDP was established by the passage of Title XV of the Public Health Services Act, known as "The Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Act of 1990" (Public Law 101-354), which created a program of grants to states for the detection and control of breast and cervical cancer. The CDC awards the grants to states via cooperative agreement and provides guidance to the states on implementing early detection programs including defining program components, allowable costs and participant eligibility. LBCHP is funded by the CDC and administered by Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC).

LBCHP was established at LSUHSC in October 2002. The program is currently operating in four regions: Greater New Orleans, Greater Baton Rouge, Northwest Louisiana and Northeast Louisiana. CDC and LSUHSC rely on the partnership of local screening and outreach providers to implement the program.

Cancer registration in Louisiana began in 1947 at the Charity Hospital Tumor Registry in New Orleans. In 1974, as part of its Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) provided funds for a population-based cancer incidence and survival registry covering Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard parishes. Thus population-based cancer registration began in the Greater New Orleans area with the advent of the Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR).

In 1979, the LTR was transferred to Louisiana’s Office of Public Health (OPH). The catchment area for the LTR was expanded in 1983 to include all 35 parishes of south Louisiana (Regions I-V). In 1988, when the 29 parishes of north Louisiana (Regions VI-VIII) were added, statewide coverage was achieved.

In 1995, the LTR was transferred from the OPH to the LSU Board of Supervisors. Since then, the LSU Health Sciences Center (formerly the LSU Medical Center) in New Orleans has been responsible for the cancer registry program. In 2001, the Louisiana Tumor Registry was selected as one of four new expansion registries to join NCI’s prestigious SEER program after a rigorous competitive application process.

Oversight of the registry is exercised by the Louisiana Cancer and Lung Trust Fund Board. Members of this board represent various health institutions throughout the state and are appointed by the governor.

The Telemedicine Program involves multiple spoke and hub sites throughout Louisiana which serve both clinical and health education goals. Its statewide integration and utilization of advanced information and telecommunication technologies support effective and efficient decision making, reduce practice variation and medical errors, and enable clinicians and health care consumers to advance toward a preventive health and disease management model. The Telemedicine Program has contracts from the LSU Health Care Services Division and the Louisiana Department of Corrections to provide care and training in rural areas and correctional facilities statewide.

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and The Clinical Trials Center at Children's Hospital are looking for a 7 to 9 year olds to participate in a health evaluation study.

Blood pressure
Cholesterol
Body fat estimate
Free diabetes risk evaluation
Compensation for time and travel

Come learn more about the SILLY study at our family nutrition and exercise sessions. These sessions are on the first Monday of each month and are held in the auditorium at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. Please call 1-866-927-4559 for more information on our programs.

*Please note: The SILLY study will look at the importance of birth weight to diabetes. All boys and girls ages 7 to 9 are eligible to participate in this study, even those with average and high birth weights. Please help to pass information about this study along to anyone who might be interested.

The Tobacco Control Initiative (TCI) is administered by the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Public Health in partnership with the LSU Health Care Services Division, the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, and the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-free Living (TFL).

TCI seeks to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use within the HCSD patient population by: (1) identifying all tobacco users; (2) identifying those evidence-based interventions that are both appropriate for and acceptable to patients; and (3) cost-effectively providing those interventions to patients, when possible. The initiative follows the evidence-based guidelines of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, "Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence" (2000).

The public hospital system screens patients for tobacco use and dependency. Any patient identified as a current tobacco user (defined as having used tobacco products within the past 30 days) is advised to quit and offered evidenced based treatment options. TCI provides these treatment options which include, but is not limited to, self-help material, smoking cessation classes, facilitated access to the Louisiana quit-line (proactive telephone counseling via faxed referral), pharmacotherapy options, and social support.

TCI is administered under the principled leadership of Dr. Sarah Moody-Thomas. Dr. Moody-Thomas received her doctorate degree from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, and completed a clinical psychology residency at the Medical University of South Carolina and the VA hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. She is a licensed clinical psychologist. She is professor in the field of clinical health psychology, and Director of the Behavioral and community Health Program of the LSUHSC School of Public Health. During the past 14 years Dr. Moody-Thomas and her team of behavioral scientists, implementation specialists and public health interns have initiated and evaluated a broad range of cancer control and tobacco prevention and cessation interventions.