Bertrand Invested in Health Management Chair
The Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine invested Jane Bertrand as the first holder of the Neal A. and Mary Vanselow Chair in Health Management and Policy at a ceremony on Monday (March 8) in the Diboll Auditorium.
Jane Bertrand robes in preparation for her investiture as the first holder of the Neal A. and Mary Vanselow Chair in Health Management and Policy while Pierre Buekens, dean of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, gets ready to share the happy day. (Photo by Tracie Morris Schaefer)
The endowed chair was established with funds from the Edward G. Schlieder Educational Foundation and matching funds from the Louisiana Board of Regents. The chair honors Vanselow, the former chancellor of Tulane Medical Center and professor emeritus of medicine, and his wife.
"What makes a university great is great people," said Tulane President Scott Cowen. "Today we witnessed what an incredible difference Neal and Mary Vanselow, the Schlieder Foundation and, of course, Jane Bertrand make in our lives, not just here at Tulane University but around the world."
Bertrand is chair of the Department of Health Systems Management in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. With the support and visibility of the newly endowed academic chair, she plans to bring global attention to the department's work.
"We have staked out four directions we will be moving in the next four years," Bertrand said. "We want to maintain the excellence in teaching for which the department is now well known, continue to expand internationally both in our training programs and our sponsored research activities, develop our policy expertise into a more defined master of public health offering and strengthen the research portfolio."
Bertrand began her relationship with Tulane in 1971, when she worked on a family planning research project at the International Center for Medical Research and Training in Cali, Colombia. By 1979, she had joined the faculty as assistant professor and became professor in 1992. She chaired the Department of International Health and Development from 1994 to 1999.
Bertrand was a professor in the Bloomberg School of Public Health and directed the Center for Communication Programs at Johns Hopkins University before returning to Tulane. Her work has focused on promoting and encouraging family planning programs in developing countries in Central America and Northern Africa.
Michael Ramos is a development writer in the Tulane Office of Development Research and Writing.
