Xavier students and faculty participate in New Orleans Big Health Event
By: Brooklyn Sanaa Netisingha, Contributor
September 1, 2026
Xavier University of Louisiana students and faculty joined health care providers and community organizations at the fifth annual Big Health Event on Aug. 14 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Sponsored by Ochsner Health and the Urban League of Louisiana, the event provided New Orleans residents with free health screenings, medical information and connections to health care and community resources.
Dr. Yves LaBorde, chief medical officer at Ochsner Health, described the event as a “celebration of health and wellness centered around the community.”
LaBorde said the event was designed to serve multiple generations, from children to grandparents. He identified access, affordability, advocacy and measured outcomes as principles behind the event. Bringing services together in one location and providing them at no cost helped reduce some of the barriers residents may face when seeking health care.
The event featured five areas focused on children, culinary education, fitness, careers and community resources throughout the Convention Center. Attendees could receive blood pressure screenings, body mass index calculations and HIV/STI testing. Other activities included mobile dental services, pediatric vaccines, vision testing, back-to-school physicals, healthy cooking demonstrations and professional development resources.
Health education was also a major component of the event. Among the exhibitors was the “Protect Your Crown” booth hosted by Pfizer and Ripi Media. The booth used an interactive Alopecia Areata Trivia board to educate attendees about alopecia and different forms of hair loss.
Alopecia areata is a common autoimmune disease that causes hair to fall out in small, round patches. But as Malery A. Louis, a representative for Ripi Media, pointed out, “A lot of people think that alopecia is not in their genes or it just will not happen.”
Xavier was represented by the College of Pharmacy and Ochsner-Xavier Institute for Health Equity and Research (OXIHER).
Pharmacy students hosted an interactive display demonstrating how common fast foods can affect blood pressure and provided health screenings to attendees. OXIHER representatives participated in panel discussions with medical professionals and conducted interviews focused on community health outreach.
Dr. Ebony Rice-Haywood, system medical director for OXIHER and associate dean for health equity and public health at the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine (XOCOM), said OXIHER’s participation in the event reflected Xavier’s emphasis on preparing future health care professionals to understand the communities they serve.
“OXIHER’s goal is to train the next generation of physicians to understand how to interact with the community and to serve it appropriately by acknowledging the patient’s whole story and circumstances,” Rice-Haywood said.
For Xavier students and faculty, the event provided an opportunity to take their health care knowledge beyond campus and engage directly with members of the New Orleans community.
