LSU Experts Available to Speak on Coronavirus Impacts
July 02, 2020
Up-to-date context and analysis for the on-going situation
LSU has a number of experts available to discuss topics related to the coronavirus, social and physical distancing and more.
To schedule interviews, contact LSU Media Relations.
Epidemiology
- Rebecca Christofferson, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine's Pathobiological Sciences department assistant
professor
Areas of Expertise: Emerging viruses and infectious diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya. She is part of the team that set up the River Road Testing Lab at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine to help the community fill a critical gap in COVID-19 testing capabilities in Louisiana.
rcarri1@lsu.edu
Society and Culture
- Troy Blanchard, LSU College of Humanities & Social Sciences dean and LSU Department of Sociology
professor
Areas of Expertise: Social impacts of the pandemic and how it is affecting the trust, social capital and faith garnered from religion and churches in the midst of the stay-at-home orders.
troy@lsu.edu - Lori Martin, LSU Department of Sociology and LSU Department of African and African American Studies
professor
Areas of Expertise: Persistent racial and economic disparities and how historic inequality has led to Black people being at greater risk of negative impacts during crises such as the pandemic.
lorim@lsu.edu - Michael Pasquier, the Jaak Seynaeve Professor of Christian Studies, LSU Religious Studies and History
associate professor and LSU Center for Collaborative Knowledge director
Areas of Expertise: How the pandemic and physical distancing is impacting culture and religion, especially in Louisiana.
mpasquier@lsu.edu - Tim Slack, LSU Department of Sociology professor
Areas of Expertise: Impacts of the pandemic on people across the economic spectrum including low-income workers and the service sector as well as differences between how rural, small towns and large, urban cities are being impacted.
timslack.lsu@gmail.com
Psychology and Mental Health
- Anna Long, LSU Department of Psychology assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Child psychology, mental health and resilience in times of crises as well as in school settings. Wrote the Helping Kids Cope with COVID-19 information sheet for parents, teachers and caregivers.
Cultural Responsiveness and Implementation Science in Psychology (CRISP) Laboratory
along@lsu.edu - Emily Qualls-Creekmore, LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Stress, anxiety and emotional eating.
Emily Qualls-Creekmore website
ecreek2@lsu.edu - Raymond Tucker, LSU Department of Psychology assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Potential impact of COVID-19 on suicide rates; the impact of physical and social distancing on mental health as well as ways to cope given this change; and the impact of uncertainty on mental health and ways to cope with uncertain times.
Mitigation of Suicidal Behavior (MOSB) Laboratory
rtucker1@lsu.edu - Don Zhang, LSU Department of Psychology assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Risk perception and decision making; personality and the effect of social isolation.
Risk and Decision Making Lab
Zhang1@lsu.edu
Work and Industry
- Tracey Rizzuto, LSU School of Leadership and Human Resource Development associate director
Areas of Expertise: Workplace disaster recovery; technology and workplace issues including how working remotely is impacting workers and employers.
trizzut@lsu.edu - Rachel Williamson Smith, Industrial and Organizational Psychology Area Head and LSU Department of Psychology
assistant professor
Areas of expertise: Work-family balance, boundary management between work and non-work, employee well-being including managing stress in situations such as this pandemic.
rsmith3@lsu.edu
Business and Economy
- Jim Richardson, the Harris J. and Marie P. Chustz Endowed Professorship and LSU Department of Public
Administration and LSU Department of Economics professor
Areas of Expertise: How COVID-19 is impacting the economy.
parich@lsu.edu - Dek Terrell, LSU Economics & Policy Research Group executive director and LSU Department of Economics
professor
Areas of Expertise: Economic impacts of the coronavirus and recovery from the pandemic relative to hurricanes such as Hurricane Katrina.
mdterre@lsu.edu
Food Safety, Nutrition and Growing Your Own Food
- John Apolzan, LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center Assistant Professor-Research
Areas of Expertise: Nutrition, exercise and food cravings.
John Apolzan website
japolzan@lsu.edu - Wenqing Xu, LSU AgCenter and School of Nutrition and Food Sciences assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Food safety and microbiology. She has compiled fact sheets on grocery store safety and food takeout, videos on proper disinfecting and has been fielding media requests on those topics.
Wenqing Xu website
Wenqing.xu@agcenter.lsu.edu - Sandra May, LSU AgCenter and School of Nutrition and Food Sciences instructor
Areas of Expertise: She is a registered dietitian and has developed content on emergency food supply, stretching food supply between grocery visits, hypertension and the link to COVID-19.
Sandra May website
SaMay@agcenter.lsu.edu
- Heather Kirk Ballard, LSU AgCenter and the School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences assistant
professor
Areas of Expertise: She is a consumer horticulturist and has been fielding requests about the surge of interest in home gardening during the stay-at-home order.
Heather Kirk Ballard website
HKirkBallard@agcenter.lsu.edu