Our Team
Faculty
Benjamin F. Springgate, MD, MPH
CHVE Director
Chief, Section of Community and Population Medicine
Professor of Medicine and Public Health
Co-Director, MD/MPH Dual Degree Program
Dr. Springgate is a primary care internist in New Orleans who works in partnerships to improve health outcomes in under-resourced communities. Dr. Springgate is also an Associate Professor at LSU School of Medicine and School of Public Health, where he serves as Section Chief of Community and Population Medicine, Director of the Center for Healthcare Value and Effectiveness, and Director of the MD/MPH Dual Degree Program. He is an active clinician, researcher, and educator at LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans.
Ashley Wennerstrom, PhD, MPH
CHVE Director
Director, Community Health Worker Institute
Associate Professor, School of Public Health
Co-Director, MD/MPH Dual Degree Program
Dr. Wennerstrom is an Associate Professor of Research at the LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans Schools of Medicine and Public Health. She serves as the Director of the Louisiana Community Health Worker Institute and currently co-leads the Louisiana Community Health Worker Workforce Coalition. Dr. Wennerstrom is a Robert Wood Johnson Interdisciplinary Research Leaders fellow. She has over a decade of experience conducting community-academic partnered research.
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Marcus Bachhuber, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Dr. Bachhuber is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine. His focus is on quality improvement, evidence-based clinical policy, population health, advanced payment models, and healthcare access. His research interests include HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, opioid abuse and addiction, medical marijuana and cannabis laws, discrimination in health care, and food insecurity and homelessness. He also continues to provide direct clinical patient care. Dr. Bachhuber attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY and was a Fellow at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars program.
Colten Creel, MD, MPH, MS
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases
Co-Director, MD/MPH Dual Degree Program
Dr. Colten J. Creel is an attending physician and faculty member in the Division of
Infectious Diseases at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, where he also serves
as the Co-Director of the MD/MPH Dual Degree Program. A native of Franklinton, Louisiana,
Dr. Creel returned to his home state to join the faculty after completing training
across the Mid-South and Texas.
Dr. Creel's clinical practice focuses on comprehensive HIV care, musculoskeletal infections,
and the management of patients requiring outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy
(OPAT). His academic interests lie at the intersection of infectious diseases and
public health, specifically examining how optimized management strategies for these
conditions can improve community-level health outcomes, enhance healthcare delivery,
and bridge gaps in preventative care.
As a faculty educator, Dr. Creel is dedicated to the mentorship of fellows, residents,
and medical students. His academic focus centers on clinical education—specifically
the ability to translate complex microbiological and infectious disease concepts into
clear, high-yield frameworks that enhance trainee reasoning and bedside practice.
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Richard Culbertson, PhD
Professor, School of Public Health
Professor, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine
Dr. Culbertson is Professor at Louisiana State University School of Public Health New Orleans. He is Professor of Family Medicine and of Internal Medicine at the LSU School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine. From 2013 to 2015 he was Interim Dean of the LSU School of Public Health.
Paula Vanessa de la Cruz, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Statewide Medical Director of the LDH Office of Behavioral Health
Dr. Vanessa de la Cruz is board certified in Adult Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine.
Dr. de la Cruz earned her medical degree at Tulane Medical School and completed her
Psychiatry residency training at UCSF and a Public Psychiatry Fellowship at Columbia
University. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. de la Cruz’s career has been devoted
to public healthcare systems for 20 years serving in leadership roles at the county/parish,
state, and federal level. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the LSU Health
- New Orleans Section of Community and Population Medicine.
Olivia Sugarman, PhD, MPH
Assistant Scientist, Department of Health Policy and Management of Johns Hopkins University
Olivia K. Sugarman, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Scientist in the Department of Health
Policy and Management of Johns Hopkins University. She is a mixed methods health policy
and services researcher focused on substance use disorder, overdose prevention, and
incarceration and health. Dr. Sugarman has a long history of partnership with faculty
and staff within the Center, and received her PhD from the LSUHSC-NO School of Public
Health.
Gala True, PhD
Richard A. Culbertson and Susan M. Leary Endowed Professor, Community and Population Medicine
Gala True, PhD, is Richard A. Culbertson and Susan M. Leary Endowed Professor in the Section of Community and Population Medicine, Department of Medicine. She is also an Investigator with the South Central Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System. Gala co-founded and co-directs The Armory Project, an initiative that partners with firearm retailers to promote secure firearm storage and provide voluntary out-of-home storage. Her current work in suicide prevention is funded b USAA’s Face the Fight, VA Health Systems Research, VA Office of Rural Health, and VA Office of Suicide Prevention. She engages Veterans and their families, as well as community partners including firearm retailers and instructors, to raise awareness about secure firearm storage to prevent suicide.
Seth Vignes, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Seth M. Vignes, MD is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department
of Internal Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center–New Orleans, where he practices
as a hospitalist, addiction medicine researcher and Course Director for the senior
medical student medicine clerkship. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and
Addiction Medicine, with clinical and research interests at the intersection of hospital
medicine, substance use disorders, and injection-related infections. He was awarded
the 2025 Louisiana Department of Health's Public University Partnership program grant
for his quality improvement work in Injection-related infections. Dr. Vignes leads
multiple educational initiatives focused on intern preparedness, simulation-based
learning, and curriculum innovation, and has received institutional recognition for
excellence in teaching. He is a member of both state-level and national collaborations
aimed at improving care models and health system responses for patients with substance
use disorders.
Staff
Chris Adkins, MSW
Associate Director, Community Health Worker Institute
Chris Adkins is the Associate Director of Community Health Worker Institute within the Center for Health Value & Effectiveness at Louisiana State University. Chris has also served as a consultant on Practice Transformation for the AETCs. Chris’s areas of expertise are in system’s thinking, implementation science and social epidemiology, focusing on hard-to-reach and underserved communities. Chris obtained his Master’s degree in Social Work in 2006 at Boston University, where he assisted with research on mental health and public health needs of Asian and Pacific Islander LGBT populations. He also completed a B.A. in Social Work with a Minor in Women’s Studies from Cleveland State University. Chris has more than 25 years of expertise in working in direct service with vulnerable populations, including caring for abused and neglected children in the foster care system, case managing newly diagnosed and medically complicated people with HIV/AIDS, helping women leaving prison to enter college using group work, along with evaluation of CHW programs on minority infant mortality reduction programs.
Amber Goff
Program Coordinator
Amber Jolla
Project Coordinator
Kate MacWilliams, MPH
Program Coordinator
Isha Matta, MPH
Program Manager, Education
Isha Matta is the Program Manager for Education Programs withing CHVE and the Section of Community and Population Medicine. Isha received her Master of Public Health from LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health. In this role, she primarily manages the dual MD/MPH degree program working with students, faculty and administration in every aspect of the degree from application through graduation.
Kira Wortmann, MPA
Associate Director, Research and Evaluation
Kira Wortmann is an Associate Director for Research and Evaluation at the LSU Health Sciences Center – New Orleans, within the Center for Healthcare Value and Effectiveness. In this role she oversees a portfolio of national health program research projects. She has a wide range of experience working in the non-profit and public heath sectors in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received her Master of Public Administration, with a concentration in Community Development, from the University of New Orleans. Her work has supported programming and evaluation in the areas of disaster case management, primary care behavioral health integration, community healthcare access and in Early Head Start schools.