The School of Medicine has honored six alumni as Tulane Trailblazers for their achievements in the medical field with a visual display along the walls of Hutchinson Auditorium on the downtown campus. The Trailblazers are Dr. Michael DeBakey, Dr. Anna Cherrie Epps, Dr. Alberto G. Garcia, Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, Dr. Rachel Levine and Dr. Clyde Yancy.

Denys Bondar and Matthew Escarra, faculty members in the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics at the School of Science and Engineering, sent solar cell samples, a solar power meter, thermal imaging camera and other electronics equipment to support colleagues at the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute in Ukraine after a Russian missile destroyed their research labs.

The Green Wave football team and Head Coach Willie Fritz were invited to the Louisiana Capitol to be recognized by Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana House of Representatives, as a special honor after the team’s historic Cotton Bowl win in January.

Tulane researchers at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and the Tulane National Primate Research Center have developed a Chagas vaccine that safely protects heart function in nonhuman primates. The development is a critical step toward human clinical trials. There is currently no available vaccine for Chagas.

The School of Liberal Arts and the Folger Shakespeare Library co-sponsored a scholarly conference and workshop, “Rac(e)ing the Shakespearean Archive: Antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction New Orleans,” which examined the role of race and modern interpretations in William Shakespeare’s work. Held in February, the conference featured Othello performances with actors of different ethnicities and genders.

“Look at any map or satellite image of New Orleans, and you will still readily see the imprint of this old, French surveying system from centuries ago.”

Getting sick often may impact how quickly the brain ages and increase the risk of dementia or other forms of cognitive decline, according to a study led by Elizabeth Engler-Chiurazzi, assistant professor of neurosurgery and behavioral neuroscientist at the School of Medicine. The study found that repeated, intermittent experiences with moderate inflammation, such as that caused by the flu or a common cold, caused impaired cognition.

Chef Edgar “Dook” Chase IV, grandson of New Orleans’ Creole cuisine legend Leah Chase, and his wife, Gretchen, opened Chapter IV, a restaurant in the new Thirteen15 building on Tulane’s downtown campus. The restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and Sunday brunch. The Thirteen15 building, located on Gravier Street, is the current site of the Tulane Innovation Institute and home to apartments designed for members of the Tulane community.

The Louis Prima collection has been processed by Tulane University Special Collections and is now accessible to researchers. The collection includes personal and business papers, correspondence, sheet music, photographs, publicity materials and audiovisual materials related to Louis Prima, the legendary New Orleans-born singer, songwriter, bandleader and trumpeter.

Researchers at the Tulane National Primate Research Center will examine how chronic oral infections affect the severity of HIV infection and the efficacy of antiretroviral therapies used to treat HIV. A $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will fund this research, which will be led by Prasun Datta, associate professor of microbiology and immunology.