Greetings from New Orleans! As the seventh chair of this department, I am proud to continue the legacy that began under the banner of the Department of Health Systems Management. Throughout this issue of the newsletter, you will find that the department remains faithful to the mission of training future healthcare leaders. I am excited to share these stories and the latest news about your department.

It was 1967. Just the year before, more than 23 million elderly and impoverished Americans had enrolled in the newly enacted Medicare and Medicaid programs, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation continued towards its goal of professionalizing the management of hospitals. In that year, Tulane was one of only three universities awarded a Kellogg grant to establish a program in health administration. Dr. Thomas Hamrick, chair of the Department of Health Services Administration, hired Dr. Walter Burnett to serve as the first director to design and launch an MPH program in Health Services & Hospital Administration.

A quick glance at the department's historical highlights and changes over its 50 years. 

The U.S. healthcare ecosystem is undergoing a profound transformation towards a more consumer-driven market, often within the confines of increasingly constrained resources. In response, Tulane’s department of health policy and management has introduced two new graduate certificate programs aimed at preparing current and aspiring leaders with the quantitative and evidence-based management, leadership, and personal mastery skills needed to guide an organization in this new environment.