Office of Community Affairs and Health Policy

From its early foundation as a medical college, Tulane University has been heavily engaged in ensuring the delivery of primary care to vulnerable populations in the Greater New Orleans area. Since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, this work includes direct service delivery through sites operated by the university, as well as sites where we are the major provider and clinical leads. Tulane School of Medicine faculty and residents are involved in more than a dozen community programs throughout the city, and since Katrina have served 67,500 patients.

Building upon the experiences in the immediate post-hurricane period, Tulane School of Medicine changed its mission to “Education, Research, Patient Care: We Heal Communities." This change in mission was enhanced by the creation of the Office of Community Affairs and Health Policy. 

The Office of Community Affairs and Health Policy has programming aimed at:

1. Supporting access to high quality, neighborhood based health care;
2. Advancing health policies that improve the community’s health and support primary care;
3. Developing innovative, replicable healthcare models; and
4. Supporting educational opportunities for health professionals-in-training and healthcare workers.