PHEPR Staff BIOS
Summyr Burton, PhD(s), MPH
Senior Program Manager
Summyr Burton is a third-year Ph.D. student under Dr. Murphy in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Her research explores public health emergency preparedness and response, mental health and psychosocial support, and infection prevention and control. She is particularly interested in infectious disease outbreaks and pandemic preparedness and response.
Summyr has over 5 years of experience working with various government, private, and non-profit agencies and organizations. Her experience includes developing a COVID-19 social determinants of health dashboard of Louisiana parishes for targeted resource distribution at VIA LINK and working within the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in various preparedness and response efforts such as managing the activation of temporary shelters, multiple operational responses for hurricanes, and aiding the logistical and operational development of mass testing and vaccination centers for the COVID-19 pandemic. She is passionate about teaching and advising students and typically instructs or assists multiple graduate and undergraduate courses each year.
Stephen Murphy, PhD, MPH, MBA
Director and Principal Investigator
Dr. Murphy serves as Co-PI of the R6 Public Health Training Center and leads Tulane’s SPHTM Disaster Management Master of Public Health (MPH) Program, leveraging his 15+ years of practice-based experience shaping and implementing local, state, federal, and private sector public health emergency preparedness, homeland security, health security, and disaster management and resilience programs. His experience includes developing and managing preparedness plans, exercises, and operational responses for major metropolitan jurisdictions addressing health threats such as COVID-19, Ebola Virus Disease, hurricane evacuation, pandemic influenza, coastal oil spills as well as planning for high-threat events of national significance such as the Super Bowl and other large-scale mass gatherings. He has served on numerous state-wide advisory boards in Louisiana and was the former Chief of Planning and Preparedness for New Orleans Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness in the years following Hurricane Katrina.
Dr. Murphy’s research is at the intersection of health security strategies, effective translation of research findings into policy, and risk communication. He is passionate about teaching and typically leads multiple graduate courses and an undergraduate course each year. Graduate courses include: Environmental Aspects of Disasters (ENHS 6910); Planning and Implementation in Disasters (ENHS 6930).
PhD, Tulane University
MPH, Tulane University
MBA, Mercer University
BA, University of Georgia