Feature Story
LSU Researcher Discovers Great Things

A Shreveport native, Dr. Noguera’s connection to the purple and gold runs deep. After earning her first undergraduate degree in biology from LSU in Baton Rouge, she returned to her hometown to complete a second bachelor’s degree in cardiopulmonary science from LSU Health Shreveport’s School of Health Professions and Sciences.

Two medical students are learning that caring for patients means looking beyond lab results and prescriptions. Sometimes, comprehensive care means addressing the real - world challenges that shape their health. For many families in North Louisiana, that challenge can be food insecurity.

Louisiana, like much of the nation, faces a growing shortage of skilled healthcare professionals, particularly in high-impact fields that support patient diagnosis, treatment and long-term care. Meeting that challenge requires new approaches to education that move students into the workforce faster, reduce the cost of training and prepare graduates to make an immediate difference. LSU Health Shreveport is answering that call by partnering with other LSU system campuses.

Two research partnership agreements signed by LSU and national laboratory leaders in Washington, D.C., are positioned to ensure America's worldwide competitiveness and energy dominance. The agreements with Argonne National Laboratory (based in Lemont, Ill.) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (based in Oak Ridge, Tenn.) enable joint efforts on a state and national level to advance research, technology development and new solutions for energy, chemicals and critical materials manufacturing.

Functional neurosurgeon Jamie Toms, MD, assistant professor of neurosurgery, teaches LSUHS residents and fellows how procedures like vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) can help rewire the brain and improve function after an ischemic stroke.