The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University scored a rare double earlier this year, bringing aboard a pair of exciting new hires to help steer different aspects of the school’s future.
Dr. Shalini Kulasingam was tabbed the founding director of the school’s newly established Center for Cancer Prevention and Control, while Dr. Richard MacLehose has been named chair of the Department of Epidemiology following an extensive national search to fill the role.
Both hires were effective July 1, and the power couple have hit the ground running.
As faculty at the Top 10 public health school, Kulasingam holds joint faculty appointments in the WSPH Departments of Epidemiology and of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease. She also serves as associate director of population science at the Tulane Cancer Center, and her leadership further extends to the Louisiana Cancer Research Center (LCRC), where she is serving in the same capacity with the same title.
As part of her role, Kulasingam collaborates with cancer population health researchers across LCRC’s partner institutions: Tulane University, LSU Health New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Ochsner Health.
Noting that cancer prevention is a key strategic priority of the school, Dean Thomas LaVeist said, “Dr. Kulasingam's interdisciplinary expertise and global leadership in cancer prevention will significantly advance the school’s mission in strengthening cancer control across the Gulf South, shaping national public health policy, and improving health outcomes for populations worldwide.”
MacLehose joins Tulane after 17 years at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, where he served as assistant, associate, and then full professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health. As an epidemiologist and biostatistician, he has extensive experience designing and implementing epidemiologic studies and developing novel methods in Bayesian statistics, bias analysis, and causal inference. He has also authored the textbook "Applying Quantitative Bias Analysis to Epidemiologic Data."
MacLehose earned his PhD in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina, his MS in epidemiology from the University of Washington, and his bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Miami University. He also spent two years at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences in the Biostatistics Branch as a postdoctoral fellow.
“Dr. MacLehose brings an exceptional record of scholarship and leadership to the role of chair,” said LaVeist in his announcement, highlighting the new chair’s methodological work and applied research across multiple areas including cardiovascular, aging, nutritional, and occupational epidemiology. LaVeist thanked both Interim Chair Dr. Lu Qi and Vice Chair Dr. Katherine Mills, who provided leadership to the department during the search.
“Their guidance has provided critical stability and continuity to the department throughout the search process,” LaVeist noted. Previously at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health, Kulasingam served as a member of the Masonic Cancer Center’s Screening, Prevention, Etiology, and Cancer Survivorship (SPECS) Program. Her research primarily focuses on the prevention and control of cervical cancer, with a particular emphasis on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening strategies.
Through her work, she has significantly influenced cervical cancer screening and prevention policies globally. Notably, she contributed to Australia's adoption of the HPV vaccine, positioning the country to eliminate HPV as a public health issue within the next two decades. Her research has also examined cancer screening in Canada, Singapore, and several African nations.
Beyond her focus on HPV, Kulasingam has applied her expertise in mathematical modeling to address other public health challenges, including collaborating with the Minnesota Department of Health and the Governor’s office during the COVID-19 pandemic to analyze transmission dynamics and inform policy decisions.
Kulasingam earned her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Washington, along with an MPH from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a BA from Bryn Mawr College.
