As part of a $2.27 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, the School of Social Work plans to address issues of alarming levels of burnout, low job satisfaction and compassion fatigue among healthcare workers that lead to poor behavioral health outcomes for themselves and contribute to increased health disparities for the communities they serve.

A challenge in treating military veterans is finding those who may be suffering from invisible wounds and getting them to seek treatment, said Dr. Greg Stewart. There is, however, a new, successful treatment concept to help veterans heal and lower their risk for suicide. Stewart is the W. Kennon McWilliams Professor in Sports Medicine and the medical director for the Tulane University Center for Brain Health, whose central mission is to provide care for military veterans regardless of discharge status.

The Newcomb Art Museum has received a $500,000, three-year grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to establish three interrelated initiatives to make the museum more inclusive and accessible. The funding comes from the philanthropic foundation’s Art Museum Futures Fund, launched in 2020 as part of its emergency grantmaking in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on arts and cultural institutions around the nation.

Professor of English Zachary Lazar has published a new book, The Apartment on Calle Uruguay: A Novel (Penguin Random House, 2022). It’s the story of a complicated romance between an artist and a journalist.

Nick Mattei, assistant professor of computer science, is part of a National Science Foundation study to design more equitable algorithm recommender systems for all types of products and services.

Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who had a combination of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes or other conditions associated with metabolic syndrome were at much higher risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome and death, according to a study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. Dr. Joshua Denson, assistant professor of medicine, was the study’s lead author.

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $1.24 million grant to a research team to come up with standards for measuring viruses and other pathogens in treated wastewater for water re-use projects. Samendra Sherchan, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences and director of the Water Quality Lab at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, is part of the team.

Chad Roy, professor of microbiology and immunology and director of infectious disease aerobiology at the Tulane National Primate Research Center, and Dr. Gregory Bix, professor and vice chair of neurosurgery and neurology, director of COBALT (COVID-19 Biobank and Library at Tulane), and director of the clinical neuroscience research center, were among a team of scientists who co-authored a review of 115 peer-reviewed studies in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

A study led by Stacy Overstreet, professor of psychology, shows that when the COVID-19 pandemic forced New Orleans public school teachers to switch from in-person instruction to a virtual or hybrid setting, the transition left many feeling anxious over their ability to impact student learning. The study also reveals that many teachers suffered from anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. It recommends expansion of access to mental health care, improvement in sick leave and bereavement policies and offering hazard pay.

Tracy Fischer, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the Tulane National Primate Research Center, led a study published in Nature Communications, investigating how COVID-19 affects the central nervous system. The research team found severe brain inflammation and injury consistent with reduced blood flow or oxygen to the brain, including neuron damage and death. Microhemorrhages, or small bleeds in the brain, were also present. Surprisingly, these findings were seen in subjects that did not experience severe respiratory disease from the virus.