About Tulane’s Online MPH in Disaster Management
The dangers of disasters linger long after the immediate damage — new diseases spread, community nutrition declines, and health disparities compound. The lasting psychosocial effects can also significantly derail a community’s ability to heal. We need public health professionals who craft policies and plans that go beyond infrastructure devastation, focusing on building resilient communities.
Tulane University’s Online Master of Public Health in Disaster Management will train you to prepare for, detect, and combat the public health impacts of disasters. Through courses covering everything from disaster communication and environmental monitoring to response planning and psychosocial impacts, you’ll learn to apply scientific principles to disaster preparation. You’ll learn from and participate in research alongside experienced faculty members who have led response efforts for major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the Ebola outbreak, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
By the time you graduate, your approach to disaster management will encompass a keen awareness of the environmental and public health challenges that can affect communities facing disaster. You’ll become a public health professional equipped to build more resilient communities and truly make a difference in your community’s well-being.
Online MPH in Disaster Management at a Glance

Establishing Resilience
Learn to see how the long-term, wide-reaching effects of disasters impact communities and craft policies that prepare for these unseen impacts of disaster.

New Orleans Influence
Benefit from a curriculum inspired by Tulane’s rich connection to New Orleans — a city recognized for its disaster resilience efforts.

Experiential Learning
An emphasis on practical, hands-on learning and research allows you to gain the real-world experience you need to establish disaster resilience in your community.

Online Education Experts
Tulane delivers an unparalleled learning experience informed by its two-plus decades of teaching public health online.
Why do you want to be on the front lines?
The Online MPH in Disaster Management is for those who have witnessed the long-term devastation of disasters and feel compelled to better prepare communities for future disasters. Whether you’re already working in a role in public health, homeland security, or disaster management or you’re looking to transition into one of these career areas, this degree will give you a chance to establish resilience in communities prone to disaster.
Program Benefits

Earn a Unique Degree
Our MPH in Disaster Management is one of only two programs nationwide that study the impact disasters have on people and communities, as well as on infrastructure.

Join Diverse Learners
Each cohort contains students with rich and diverse professional backgrounds, allowing you to learn from your peers as much as you learn from your professors.

Build Meaningful Relationships
You will gain access to Tulane’s extensive alumni network and organizational partnerships, offering opportunities to network with leaders in the field of disaster management and homeland security.

Learn From an Active Faculty
Our faculty members don’t reside solely in the classroom; they are actively engaged in fieldwork and use their hands-on industry experience to tailor the curriculum to the profession’s most pressing needs.
What You Will Learn
The Online Master of Public Health in Disaster Management at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine will prepare you to craft effective policies that build disaster-resilient communities.
Through a 42-credit curriculum that mixes online lectures, research assignments, and real-world experiences, you will develop a research-focused approach to analyzing and strengthening community resilience and environmental health.
Scientific Method
Apply scientific principles to disaster management, crafting plans that prevent, detect, and combat public health challenges created by disasters.
Public Health Perspective
See past the physical results of disasters to examine the more wide-reaching, long-term public health impacts.
Community Focus
Develop preparation and response plans specific to the public health needs of vulnerable communities and populations.
Disaster Communication
Clearly and effectively communicate disaster-relevant information to community officials and the general public.
Upcoming Webinars
Our MPH in Disaster Management Faculty
Learn from actively engaged leaders in the field.

Assaf Abdelghani, ScD, MSPH
Professor
Dr. Abdelghani has experience around the world, having served as a senior public health officer for the ministries of health in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, as well as having participated in research projects in Haiti, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Lebanon.

Alys Adamski, PhD, MPH
Adjunct Associate Professor
Prior to joining Tulane, Dr. Adamski was a member of various outbreak response teams, including the CDC’s Zika Emergency Operations Center, where she specifically served as a member of the Zika Pregnancy and Birth Defects Taskforce.

Stephen Murphy, PhD, MPH, MBA
Assistant Professor
Dr. Stephen Murphy has significant experience developing emergency preparedness and disaster resilience strategies for various governments and private agencies. He has developed preparation and response plans for environmental threats like Ebola and hurricanes to mass social gatherings like the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. He has served on multiple Louisiana advisory boards, and was even the Planning Section Chief for the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness following Hurricane Katrina.
Careers in Disaster Management
Our emphasis on experiential learning, combined with our multiple organizational partnerships, ensures you will graduate prepared to immediately advance your career in disaster management and response. Plus, the field offers plenty of room for growth, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the number of disaster management jobs to increase between 2019 and 2029.
With an MPH in Disaster Management, you’ll be ready for roles such as:
- Emergency services manager
- Disaster recovery specialist
- Crisis communications specialist
- Emergency public health manager
- Business continuity planner
School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
The Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is the No. 12 school of public health in the U.S. and the only combined school of its kind in the nation. The school has led the way in online public health education for the past two decades, having launched distance learning initiatives in 1994. Whether you focus on public health, industrial hygiene, health administration, or disaster management, you will gain from a global lens and learn to promote health equity everywhere.