New Orleans CityBusiness has announced its list of the Top 50 Women of the Year in New Orleans for 2007. Among the honorees is Tulane’s own Maureen Lichtveld.

CityBusiness annually honors local women who are making notable contributions to the local community and to society at large. The three Tulane women being honored each have made an impact — in very distinctive ways.

Many in New Orleans have felt the effects of breathing in mold, drywall dust, construction debris and other air contaminants in post-Katrina New Orleans. But what impact are these allergy triggers having on our kids? That’s a complex issue public health researcher Maureen Lichtveld is helping the community understand.

She’s leading a groundbreaking, $2.1 million study of the effects increased indoor allergens are having on asthmatic children in the region. Lichtveld is a professor and chair of environmental health sciences at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Lichtveld’s impact on the community doesn’t stop there. She’s considered a leading expert on how communities can respond to large-scale disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Last year, she spearheaded the creation of a new disaster management degree in the public health school, the nation’s first master of science in public health in disaster management program.

Two additional Tulane women are honored with this distinction. Lisa Stockton is now in her 13th year as head coach for the Tulane women's basketball team and Melanie Ehrlich is a molecular biologist at the Tulane Cancer Center. 

- Kathryn Hobgood