Our Mission

Hayley Arceneaux, a 2016 graduate of the Physician Assistant (PA) program in the School of Allied Health Professions at LSU Health Shreveport, is scheduled to become the youngest American in space on Thursday evening September 15. Arceneaux currently works as a physician assistant at St. Jude

Forum - The decision to breastfeed is a big one, as well as a personal one, with many factors to consider. Breastfeeding is a natural process, and research has shown there are many health benefits of breastfeeding for both baby and mom, shares LaTasha Upton, Associate Professor of OB/GYN at LSUHS.

The U.S. is in the grips of an epidemic of drug overdose deaths. Stemming the tide of this crisis is a massive undertaking for the nation’s scientific and health-care communities. The Louisiana Addiction Research Center (LARC) at LSUHS leads a multidisciplinary effort to study and understand the impact of substance use on our citizens. 

KTBS - Six dental residents are at work through the LSU Health Shreveport General Practice Residency program to help communities that need more dental services. The residency program, which started on June 1, is a collaborative effort with the David Raines Community Health Center and Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport.

KSLA - LSU Health Shreveport is looking for students to meet the need for respiratory therapists. Dr. Tim Gilmore, Professor of Cardiopulmonary Science, shared “We need more good, qualified applicants therefore we can have larger classes to fulfill the community need. Currently the need for respiratory therapists is unprecedented.”

151 new medical students arrived on campus last week. The School of Medicine Freshman Orientation provided incoming students with the foundation to begin their training as doctors. Students toured the campus, covered financial aid options, discussed safety protocol, and were introduced to the Medical Academic Societies.

KTAL/KMSS - LSUHS was awarded one of three contracts in Louisiana to deliver FREE COVID-19 testing in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) for the 2021-2022 school year. The agreement is in partnership with the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) and the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) with funding provided by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Patch.com - "The CURIOUS program is such a great experience for our students as it allows them to think critically and systematically about science, thus creating new knowledge," said Dr. Scott Chirhart, professor of biology at Centenary. "It's science in action."

Mabruka Alfaidi, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in Pathology at LSU Health Shreveport, has been selected as a recipient of an American Heart Association Career Development Award. This prestigious award supports highly promising healthcare and academic professionals in the early years of their career by funding innovative research and training to assure the future success of the awardee as a cardiovascular independent scientist.

Wayne Nix has been named the new Chief Innovation Officer of Research at LSUHS, effective July 15, 2021. Mr. Nix is an experienced entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in both healthcare and business development and management arenas. He has also led many team innovation strategies while providing mentorship for new entrepreneurs.

BIZ Magazine - Celeste Y.C. Wu, PhD, post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Neurology at LSU Health Shreveport, was awarded the American Heart Association Career Development Award receiving $231,000 in funding.

PRNewswire — JanOne Inc. (Nasdaq: JAN), a company focused on developing treatments for conditions that cause severe pain and drugs with non-addictive, pain-relieving properties, today announced the appointment of Nicholas E. Goeders, Ph.D. to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Goeders is considered one of the world’s leaders on the role of stress in drug addiction.

Louisiana Radio Network - The objective of the grant is to strengthen global capabilities to detect and respond to pandemic threats in the future. Director for Emerging Viral Threats at LSUHS Dr. Andrew Yurochko said the award is indicative of LSU Health Shreveport’s strides in detecting variants and assisting with vaccine rollout.

Red River Radio - Work by Drs. Jeremy Kamil and Rona Scott along with COBRE principal investigators Drs. Andrew Yurochko and Chris Kevil has produced and shared 2,839 full coverage SARS-CoV-2 genomes, which amounts to over 60% of the SARSCoV-2 genome surveillance from Louisiana, and 1.2 % of the total US data submitted to GISAID which is the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data.

The Rockefeller Foundation - LSU Health Shreveport (LSUHS) is receiving funding ($340,000) from the Rockefeller Foundation. This follows the announcement yesterday of LSUHS being awarded $730,000 to further its work in genomic sequencing of COVID-19 through a NIH supplemental grant.  LSUHS joins Harvard and the Broad Institute at MIT among others in the US Regional Accelerators for Genomic Surveillance.

Dr. Arrigo DeBenedetti receives Spring 2021 Feist Weiller Cancer Center (FWCC) Bridging Award grant in the amount of $100,000.

LSU Health Shreveport has identified two cases of the novel COVID-19 variant of concern, B.1.617.2, which was first identified in India and is rapidly spreading around the world. LSU Health Shreveport sequencing also reveals that B.1.1.7, sometimes called “the U.K. variant,” remains dominant in North Louisiana, as is the case in the rest of the United States, as well. 

KTBS - Six dental residents are at work through the LSU Health Shreveport General Practice Residency program to help communities that need more dental services. The residency program, which started on June 1, is a collaborative effort with the David Raines Community Health Center and Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport.

KSLA - LSU Health Shreveport is looking for students to meet the need for respiratory therapists. Dr. Tim Gilmore, Professor of Cardiopulmonary Science, shared “We need more good, qualified applicants therefore we can have larger classes to fulfill the community need. Currently the need for respiratory therapists is unprecedented.”

151 new medical students arrived on campus last week. The School of Medicine Freshman Orientation provided incoming students with the foundation to begin their training as doctors. Students toured the campus, covered financial aid options, discussed safety protocol, and were introduced to the Medical Academic Societies.

Patch.com - "The CURIOUS program is such a great experience for our students as it allows them to think critically and systematically about science, thus creating new knowledge," said Dr. Scott Chirhart, professor of biology at Centenary. "It's science in action."

The AHEAD program launched for the first time during the summer 2021 semester with 16 participants from several local high schools, including Caddo Magnet, Captain Shreve, C. E. Byrd, and Southwood. Students participated in full-day sessions of hands-on, interactive activities within each health care program.

LSU Health Shreveport welcomed 177 new residents and fellows to campus this week. The group began their training in one of our 44 accredited programs on July 1st. The diverse group of physicians hail from over 27 states and 29 different countries.

KTAL News - The Emergency Water Services Project will allow LSUHS to have access to its own water source. “This is an excellent and needed project for the LSU Health Shreveport campus," State Sentator Greg Tarver said. "The water system will help the campus to continue educating and serving the community, even in times of crisis.”

LSUHS congratulates our residents and fellows who completed their training in their respective programs this month. Our institution currently offers 43 fully accredited residency and fellowship programs with more than 559 residents and fellows in training.

LSUHS School of Medicine and Dillard University have established a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Guaranteed Interview Program at LSU. The MOU represents the objective of each institution to increase the number of African American and Latinx students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Louisiana who apply to the LSUHS School of Medicine.

It brings us great sorrow to share a tragedy within our family. Matt Rushing (Physical Therapy, Class of 2018) died last week as a result of a motor vehicle collision. 

Hayley Arceneaux, a 2016 graduate of the Physician Assistant (PA) program in the School of Allied Health Professions at LSU Health Shreveport, is scheduled to become the youngest American in space on Thursday evening September 15. Arceneaux currently works as a physician assistant at St. Jude

Forum - The decision to breastfeed is a big one, as well as a personal one, with many factors to consider. Breastfeeding is a natural process, and research has shown there are many health benefits of breastfeeding for both baby and mom, shares LaTasha Upton, Associate Professor of OB/GYN at LSUHS.

The U.S. is in the grips of an epidemic of drug overdose deaths. Stemming the tide of this crisis is a massive undertaking for the nation’s scientific and health-care communities. The Louisiana Addiction Research Center (LARC) at LSUHS leads a multidisciplinary effort to study and understand the impact of substance use on our citizens. 

KTAL/KMSS - LSUHS was awarded one of three contracts in Louisiana to deliver FREE COVID-19 testing in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) for the 2021-2022 school year. The agreement is in partnership with the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) and the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) with funding provided by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

KTBS 3 - The Shreveport Police Department and Fire Department leaders detailed the 40 hour mental health training that some first responders have completed so far with LSU Health Shreveport and Seedlinks Behavior Management. The goal is to prepare first responders to handle situations with people who are undergoing a mental health crisis.

NPR / Red River Radio - Dr. Shawn McNeil, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at LSU Health Shreveport talks about substance abuse disorders, a national health crisis.

KSLA 12 - Filling up on fluids and constant hydration are good ways to prevent heat exhaustion, especially as outdoor sports like football are gearing up for the fall with summer practices, says Dr. Charles Webb, LSUHS Director of Sports Medicine Division.

KTBS 3 - Dr. Peter Seidenberg, professor of family medicine at LSU Health Shreveport, said it is important for those who will be in the heat for an extended time to stay hydrated. “With how much people use energy drinks nowadays, that increases the risk for heat stroke, as well. Any stimulant type medication, including ADD medicines, will also increase your risk. And also certain blood pressure medications increase your risk for heatstroke.”

KTAL News - Shane Sumlin was stricken by a rare syndrome called Guillain-Barre which requires extensive physical therapy in order to use one’s arms and hands again. Dr. Suzanne Tinsley, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Institutional Advancement at LSUHS, with 3+ decades of experience in dealing with neurological injuries was able to help Shane walk again.

KTBS News - Dr. Peter Seidenberg, professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at LSU Health Shreveport, explains: “The difference between heat exhaustion and heatstroke is actually your body starts to shut down. When you start adding altered mental status to that, that's when it becomes heatstroke. And it's extremely dangerous.”

KTAL/KMSS - “It seems that we’re past our peak of this delta variant surge,” said LSUHS Professor Dr. John Vanchiere. “Most of the rest of the nation is still in the climbing phase of this delta surge, so we’re a few weeks ahead of many places in terms of, our numbers seem to be slowing down on hospitalization side.”

SCIENCE.org - Dr. Jeremy Kamil, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at LSU Health Shreveport, says "that we truly have no idea what mutations will show up next, in what order, or on top of what existing variants."

KSLA12 - “PCR is the gold standard, but people who are nervous, they have a cold, runny nose or fever, it’s a great way to sort of test,” said Dr. Andrew Yurochko, professor and vice-chair of microbiology and immunology at LSU Health Shreveport.

KTBS3 - “What I recommend for most people, especially if they've had symptomatic COVID, is that they wait about a month, six weeks, somewhere in that range before they get their first dose of vaccine,” Dr. John Vanchiere, LSU Health Shreveport.

ABC4 - “We do not know whether this is going to be better or worse than Delta, there’s not enough information,” Dr. Andrew Yurochko with LSU Health Shreveport tells NewsNation. “Forty-four states have reported Lambda cases and WHO has labeled it “a variant of interest.”

AAMC.org - Despite more than 70% of adults in the country having received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 81% of people 65 and older being vaccinated, a dramatic spike in infections among unvaccinated younger people, coupled with staffing shortages, is testing the surge plans hospital systems developed for previous waves.

FDA.gov - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine has been known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, and will now be marketed as Comirnaty (koe-mir’-na-tee), for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in individuals 16 years of age and older.

LA Radio Network - “Those who have been hesitant to take this as a very important milestone that should allow them just to breathe a sigh of relief and go get their vaccine,” said LSUHS Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. John Vanchiere.