Professor EmeritaElsie R. Broussard, MD, DrPH

Elsie R. Broussard, MD, DrPH, is professor emerita of public health psychiatry, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health; and clinical associate professor of psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine. She is a psychoanalyst of adults, children, and adolescents and a faculty member of the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Institute and Society. She is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, and the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Public Health.

Broussard pioneered in developing programs for preventive intervention services related to psychosocial disorders in families and infants at risk. Using both group and individual models, office based and home based, she developed the Pittsburgh First-Born Project and the Infant-Family Resource Program. She also has worked extensively with adolescent parents.

Building on her vast experience, Broussard initiated educational ventures that reached beyond the walls of the University. For example, at the regional level she implemented a program, Training for Caregivers in the Prevention of Psychosocial Disorders in Infancy, that involved teleconferencing to the 13 Appalachian states. She was the principal investigator for a multidisciplinary training program in the area of child abuse and neglect involving the programs of child development and child care, maternal and pediatric nursing, medicine, psychology, public health, and social work. Additionally, 18 community agencies specifically involved with child abuse and neglect participated. Presentations have been made at the national and international level.

Broussard has received a number of prestigious awards for her contributions, including the American Psychiatric Association's Hofheimer Award for outstanding research in mental health, the National Mental Health Association's Lela Rowland Award for prevention services, and the Pennsylvania Public Health Association's Presidential Award for outstanding contributions in public health. She attained Distinguished Life Fellow status in the American Psychiatric Association.