Download Department of Tropical Medicine

Department of Tropical Medicine
Tropical Medicine is one of the cornerstones of Tulane University, which was founded in 1834
as a medical school to combat the major infectious diseases that were threatening the
population of the time, i.e. malaria, yellow fever, and cholera. Tulane was therefore one of the
first American institutions to establish training programs targeting public health needs and
“tropical” diseases, which have evolved from domestic health threats into major causes of
morbidity and mortality in the developing world. The Department of Tropical Medicine (DTM) at
Tulane has also evolved from a program that focuses primarily on parasitic diseases to its
present state, with premier research programs and training capacity in several key areas,
including medical entomology and vector-borne diseases (dengue, West Nile Virus), bacterial
diseases such as tuberculosis, and travel medicine, while maintaining strong programs in
several emerging parasitic diseases, such as malaria and Chagas’ Disease. Annual external
research funding is $4.9 million in 2008. The strength of the Tulane Tropical Medicine research
program is due in part to its diverse faculty and tight collaboration with institutions from around
the world, including research bases in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Colombia, India, Mali, Sierra
Leone, Rwanda, Peru, Mexico, and Haiti.
DTM offers Master’s (MSPH or MPHTM) and Doctoral (PhD) degrees in Parasitology / Tropical
Medicine for individuals pursuing academic or research careers. The graduate courses in
Parasitology are designed for those interested in the basic sciences that underlie the scientific
aspects of human parasitology and tropical diseases. A prerequisite for the work leading to the
MS/PhD degrees is fundamental training in college biology, cell biology, molecular biology, or
zoology.
Students planning to register for work beyond the Master’s degree find it advantageous to have
completed courses in histology, biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, microbiology, and
pathology. A thesis is required for both the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. MS is an intermediate
degree for professionals committed to parasitology. Graduates are prepared to undertake basic
research with supervision, and to teach in a variety of undergraduate and graduate programs.
PhD is a research degree based on the use of modern cell and molecular biology and
immunology to study human parasites and disease vectors, and on the use of parasites as
models of eukaryotic biology. Individual investigators are physically based at the new
HERB/Johnston Science Building and at the Tulane Regional Primate Research Center, and
are funded by the National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization, Centers for Disease
Control, U.S. Agency for International Development, Gates Foundation - PATH and other
sources.