Barbara Hernandez, professor of health and kinesiology at Lamar University, recently published an article in the American Journal of Health Studies. Her research, funded by a 2007 university Research Enhancement Grant, focuses on Carville, Louisiana and the historic leprosarium located there until 1999.
Along with graduate students Abhishek Kelkar, Gincy Thomas and Rasika Vengurlekar, Hernandez explored the historic medical landmark in Carville that once housed the only functioning Hansen’s Disease (formerly known as leprosy) research and treatment facility in the United States. During their research, the group discovered volumes of information surrounding the disease and unearthed documents dating back to the 19th century.
“This small hospital is known better world-wide than it actually is in the United States because of the work and research performed there on Hansen’s disease,” said Hernandez. “That’s due in part to the physicians and the nuns who actually established a research center there. They were the first ones to find any kind of drug that would affect some sort of cure for Hansen’s disease.”
Hernandez anticipates that her research will impact the world not only medically, but will also highlight the effect the disease had on human rights violations in America and the stigma with which it is associated.
Hernandez plans to develop her research on Carville and Hansen’s Disease into a book to inform and educate the public on the history of Carville.
“There are people in Louisiana who don’t even realize they have a world-wide research center right at their own back door,” said Hernandez. “So I think getting the word out is really important.”
The Carville site still houses some former patients and the National Hansen's Disease Museum is located there. The hospital, which re-located to Baton Rouge in 1999, now is known as the Gillis Long Hansen’s Disease Center and operated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information on the National Hansen’s Disease Museum, visit http://www.hrsa.gov/hansens/museum/.
