Intern Profile
A Few Minutes With…
Christopher DuCoin, Tulane University

Oh, the places you’ll go in public health. Last summer, as a part of his master’s degree studies in epidemiology at Tulane University, Christopher DuCoin took part in the South Central Partnership’s IMPACT (Interns and Mentors Program for ACTion in Public Health Preparedness) program. He was placed with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, which assigned him to a secure facility in rural Louisiana to help craft the state’s rapid response plan for bioterror emergencies. Not your typical summer job.

We caught up with Christopher early this summer, after he took part in another unusual mission: appearing as an extra in a scene from a Martin Lawrence comedy that was being filmed in New Orleans.

Prepare: How was your movie debut?

DuCoin: It was a barroom scene for Big Momma’s House 2. Martin Lawrence, dressed in a fat suit, plays an old lady, and in this scene he comes in and kicks this other actor in the groin. I’m in the background playing pool.

It definitely took away a little of the magic of the movies for me, because the whole scene will probably last 45 seconds in the final version, and it took them 12 hours to film. So I stood there all day with a half a glass of warm beer in one hand, and a pool stick in the other.

Prepare: Did that teach you any life lessons?

DuCoin: Well, I’m a little upset that I used my 15 minutes of fame on Big Momma’s House 2.

Prepare: This won’t be a new career for you?

DuCoin: No. I just graduated with my master’s degree this weekend, so I did this for fun the next day. Now I’m going to prepare for medical school.

Prepare: That might be better. How did you hear about the IMPACT program?

DuCoin: On my first day of school I met Dr. Maya Begalieva, who helps students at Tulane find positions, and through her I started working for the Louisiana Office of Public Health almost right away. She liked what I did for them, and when this internship came up, she let me know about it.

Prepare: Where were you placed for your internship?

DuCoin: At the Gillis Long Center in Carville, Louisiana. It’s about 20 minutes south of Baton Rouge in a remote location on the Mississippi River. There were once two leprosy colonies in the United States: one was in Hawaii, and the other was here. Now Gillis Long is a secure state facility, which is used to conduct police department training, among other things. I had to wear a badge every day, and the doors were guarded by men with AK-47 submachine guns.

Our project was to set up a Strategic Medical Assistance and Response Team, a SMART, for Louisiana. The group was headed by Dr. Louis Cataldie and Bill Bollier, under the direct supervision of Dr. James Guidry, the state medical director. We had to decide how to appropriate $1.5 million in federal funding for response both to bioterrorist events and natural disasters. I was the single intern.

I walked in not knowing exactly who everyone was, but within a week, when I realized who I was working with, I was awestruck. Dr. Guidry treated me like a colleague; other people would walk into the room and assume that I was someone very important—instead of just an intern—because of who I was talking to.

I got a real understanding of how such diverse individuals can come together and function as a unit under great leadership. It’s just amazing when I think back how in the first week I was there we were brainstorming about a mission statement, and then three months later we were running a full-fledged, 24-hour scenario.

Prepare: So you were able to see results from your summer’s work?

DuCoin: Absolutely. There are now nine response trailers dispersed in the nine different emergency regions of Louisiana, each with the capacity to decontaminate patients in a bioterrorism incident, and also moderately treat patients in the case of a natural disaster. Then there are two mobile hospitals that can be trucked to a disaster area and have enough space to treat 500 people. So if a hospital became overwhelmed in a hurricane, these units could be deployed to add an entire wing of emergency treatment. They were actually very impressive. The tents are inflated with pressurized air cylinders, so they go up in five minutes, and then to get everything in place takes about four hours.

Prepare: Was the internship good experience for your career?

DuCoin: It was great experience—from an epidemiology standpoint, but also on a personal level. I got to see how a state goes about setting up something brand new. There was no other program in the country to look to as an example. It was almost like developing a new little section of government.

I know I’d like to be involved with global health in some way. A lot of people take the path that I’m taking, going from public health to medical school, and eventually somewhere they lose their public health “eyes” or approach. But I’m going to cherish the education I’ve had over the past years.