LSU Experts Available to Speak on Coronavirus Impacts
Up-to-date context and analysis for the on-going situation
UPDATED 07/02/2020
BATON ROUGE – LSU has a number of experts available to discuss topics related to the coronavirus, social and physical distancing and more. Please check here as this list will be updated.
To schedule interviews, contact 225-978-8277/eballa1@lsu.edu or 510-816-8161/asatake@lsu.edu.
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.
along@lsu.edu
Emily Qualls-Creekmore, LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Stress, anxiety and emotional eating.
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.
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.
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.
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@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.
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.
HKirkBallard@agcenter.lsu.edu
Contact Alison Satake
LSU Media Relations
510-816-8161
asatake@lsu.edu
Ernie Ballard
LSU Media Relations
225-978-8277
eballa1@lsu.edu