TUXCOE Staff

DIRECTOR

Jeanette H. Magnus, MD, PhD jmagnus@tulane.edu Dr. Magnus is the Director of the Tulane Xavier National Center of Excellence in Women's Health and The Mary Amelia Douglas-Whited Community Women's Health Education Center. She is a Cecile Usdin Professor in Women’s Health, Chair in the Department of Community Health Sciences, and Head of Maternal and Child Health in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Magnus earned both her MD and PhD from University of Tromso in Norway. Her PhD was in clinical basic science research characterizing connective tissue components associated with amyloid fibrils isolated from human tissues. Through her backgrounds and experience, she bridges bedside clinical medicine, clinical basic science, Epidemiology, as well as public health and community research. This makes her uniquely positioned to serve as the Director of the Tulane Xavier National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. This Center is one of the few United States Health Services designated Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health and the first one in the Southern United States. The mission of the Center is; to facilitate access to health care services; to foster an interdisciplinary research agenda; to promote a Women’s Health curriculum in conjunction with professional training and leadership of women in academic medicine; and to advance the knowledge of Women’s Health issues in the community.

Dr. Magnus has extensive clinical experience in rheumatology and internal medicine. She has a keen interest and experience in clinical research and is currently the Co-PI and Program Director of the NIH funded Tulane Building Interdisciplinary Career in Women’s Health Program. Dr. Magnus has extensive experience in network building and coordination of research projects that involved scientists with different background. In 1992 she developed and initiated a large population-based study on Osteoporosis and fracture risk in 8,000 men and women, where all eligible inhabitants of the community older than 50 years were included. In connection with this study she worked with a team of researchers from rheumatology, radiology, endocrinology, geriatrics, clinical biochemistry, epidemiology, preventive medicine, biostatistics, clinical pathology and gynecology. The study evolved with several clinic arms as well; a random sample representing fifteen percent of the community population was analyzed and serum bone markers studied; a fracture register was established at the hospital and linked to survey data for 21,441 community subjects; forty consecutive stroke patients got their bone mineral density (BMD) measured and were followed for twelve months, to mention a few.

Upon her 1999 arrival in the United States, Dr. Magnus put her energy into integrating Tulane Xavier National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health with the pertinent activities within the Tulane Health Sciences Center. Dr. Magnus developed and established the Tulane Total Woman Health Care Center in 2000, a clinic providing primary and specialty care for women that provide unique opportunities for clinical trials across the lifespan of women, and across the medical spectrum. Dr. Magnus’ many years of clinical service, research expertise, as well as her proven dedication to generating excellence in future women’s health researchers, makes her a sought after as a collaborator. She was also recently able to secure a major endowment from the Frost Foundation to name the Mary-Amelia Douglas-Withed Community Women’s Health Education Center for which she also serves as director. This Center provides culturally and age appropriate health communication and education to community women in Louisiana.