Family and community are often cited as defining features of the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Few alumni embody that spirit more than Charles Monlezun, MSW, MSc Hygeine, MPH, DrPH, whose family has built a multigenerational legacy at Tulane.
“The school is a vehicle for us,” Monlezun said.
The third of ten children, Monlezun’s path to Tulane wasn’t straightforward. He began his studies in Catholic seminary near his hometown of Lake Arthur before deciding to pursue a secular career. After completing his undergraduate work at Notre Dame Seminary, he enrolled at Tulane’s School of Social Work. A stint in the National Guard briefly interrupted his studies, but by 1969 he was back in New Orleans, working toward a master’s degree in social work.
It was during a field placement at Tulane’s medical school that an encounter with psychiatrist Ed Norman changed his course. Norman told students about a new federally funded program at the School of Public Health in community mental health. Monlezun immediately signed up, beginning what would become a lifelong career blending clinical social work with public health.
That career spanned more than 40 years, with over three decades in private practice in Lake Charles alongside his wife, Sharon LeBleu Monlezun who is also a licensed clinical social worker. “We had a mom-and-pop,” he recalled. “We owned our own office, an old two-story Victorian home. And I built a practice for 30 years, always wearing both hats of treatment and prevention.”
Before his private practice years, Monlezun also helped shape public policy. As Louisiana’s director of planning and policy for special education, he co-authored the first state plan for implementing special education, which later became a national model. His career also took him to Harvard for an MPH in maternal and child health, though he ultimately returned to Tulane for his DrPH while continuing to practice in Lake Charles.
Monlezun’s siblings also made their mark at Tulane. His sister Constance Monlezun Darbonne earned her MPH in 1973 after training as a nurse, later establishing the first hospice program in Lake Charles before becoming a nurse practitioner. His nephew Dominique followed in his uncle and aunt’s footsteps, earning both an MPH and an MD/PhD with a focus on bioethics at Tulane. Now at the Mayo Clinic, he has become a leading voice on the ethics of artificial intelligence in medicine and public health, with multiple textbooks to his name.
The shared love of learning even became a point of family humor. “You know, Uncle Charles,” the younger Dominique once told him, “I grew up trying to figure out how my uncle got three master’s degrees and a doctorate. And then one day, I looked up and I had gotten three doctorates and a master’s!”
Charles himself has continued to write. His most recent book, Becoming Charlie, is a memoir dedicated to his granddaughter Charlie Bleu Monlezun. Nearly ten years ago, his daughter Veronica Cherie became a parent, and Charlie Bleu came into their lives. Now a healthy nine-year-old, she inspired Charles to reflect on questions of identity, belonging, and the bonds that tie a family together.
“A university can worm its way into the fabric of a family,” Charles said with a smile. For the Monlezuns, Tulane is one of those threads—woven through multiple generations, shaping careers, and reinforcing the values of service and scholarship.
“We’re grateful to the university,” he added. “And we hope we’ve given back a little.”
Retired and living in Golden, Colorado, Monlezun and his wife fondly recall their Tulane experiences, which began 56 years ago this year.
But the Monlezun family is not finished contributing its members to the field of public health. Charles’ great-niece, Madison Monlezun Saunders, PhD, is about to complete her MpH (at Johns Hopkins University).
Monlezun concludes, “The clinical community works to empty the bucket, while the public health community works to turn off the faucet. In our family, we endeavor to do both.”
