About the Centers of Excellence
The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans Centers of Excellence were established by the Louisiana State University Board of Regents. The Centers of Excellence consist of the following ten centers:
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center
This Center enhances the research capabilities of scientists, stimulates collaborative research efforts and strengthens educational activities in the biomedical aspects of alcohol and substance abuse throughout the Health Sciences Center.
Cardiovascular Center
The goal of the Cardiovascular Center is to improve the understanding and management of cardiovascular diseases by developing a multidisciplinary approach that integrates close, collaborative efforts among programs in basic and clinical research, clinical management, prevention, and epidemiologic and genetic studies.
Center for Molecular and Human Genetics
Augment the contribution of genetics to clinical medicine and biotechnology, clinical genetic services, training and education in genetics augment the contribution of genetics to clinical medicine and biotechnology, and more.
Epilepsy Center
The Epilepsy Center is dedicated to pediatric and adult education, advanced medical care, and to developing treatments that will eventually cure epilepsy and seizures for the nearly 4% of the population affected by seizures or epilepsy. The Center provides state of the art epilepsy research in pharmacology, neuroelectrophysiology, neuroimaging, neurosurgery, biomedical engineering and public health. The Center also supports the oldest continuously operating quarternary epilepsy program in Louisiana and the central Gulf south (est.1990) providing epilepsy monitoring, advanced medications, vagus nerve stimulator implantation, epilepsy surgery and gamma knife surgery. In Louisiana, all citizens that continue to have seizures despite routine medications should be referred to the Center's clinical epilepsy team for further evaluation.
Eye Center
The Eye Center faculty is known for pioneering work in laser vision correction, cataract and other refractive surgeries, viral and bacterial eye disease, corneal transplantation and cornea preservation, confocal microscopy, glaucoma, wound healing, drug delivery, contact lenses, diabetic eye disease, macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and other retinal diseases and degeneration.
Ernest N. Morial Asthma, Allergy, and Respiratory Disease Center
A center dedicated to patient education, advanced patient care, and to finding the answers that will eventually cure asthma.
Gene Therapy Program
The Gene Therapy Program is focused on the development of novel treatments for human disease, including cancer, infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB, cystic fibrosis, and neurodegenerative disorders. The major research strategy of the Program is gene delivery for disease therapy or prevention, either through the replacement of “missing” genes, or via modulation of immune function through delivery of vaccine antigens or immune response modifiers. The Program is an integral component of the Louisiana Gene Therapy Research Consortium and interacts extensively with partner Programs at LSU-Shreveport and Tulane.
Neurosciences Center
The mission of the Center is to contribute to the creation of an environment of high standards, where investigations on the nervous system and the diseases that affect it are conducted. To this end, the identification and recruitment of outstanding faculty to build a critical mass of expertise is already a tangible asset.
Research Institute for Children
The Research Institute for Children (RIC) established in 1998 is a joint collaboration among Children’s Hospital, LSU Health Sciences Center (New Orleans) and the University of New Orleans. The RIC is housed in the Research and Education Building on the Children’s Hospital campus and is supported by Children’s Hospital. The overall objective of the RIC is to promote and conduct medical and basic science research in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of pediatric illnesses, particularly infectious diseases, and diabetes. A secondary objective is to provide research training for academic scientists, both basic and translational. To accomplish this, a strong core of basic scientists interacts with clinical faculty from LSUHSC and Children’s Hospital. Trainees include undergraduate and graduate students, and both clinical and basic postdoctoral fellows. The individuals trained within these basic science laboratories will become the translational and clinical researchers who fulfill the ultimate mission of the RIC.
Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center
The mission of the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center is to decrease cancer incidence and mortality in the State of Louisiana. Particular emphasis at the Cancer Center is placed on those citizens with the greatest need.
