In 1983, Tulane President Dr. Eamon Kelly established a unique partnership with Xavier University and its President, Dr. Norman Francis. Building on national interest in the environment, regional environmental needs, and faculty expertise, Tulane and Xavier proposed the formation of a regional environmental research center to their faculties and potential funders. The center would be comprised of students and faculty from both Universities to ensure development across established academic research areas. The proposal for what would become the Center for Bioenvironmental Research (CBR) at Tulane and Xavier Universities was prepared by joint committees of faculty and administrators from both universities in anticipation of a major federal appropriation.

---

In August 1988 by congressional appropriation to the Department of Defense (DoD), $33 million was designated for Tulane and Xavier to create a center for bioenvironmental hazards research. US Representatives Lindy Boggs and Bob Livingston and US Senator Bennett Johnston were instrumental in obtaining the federal appropriation. In the words of Senator Johnston at that time, this center was needed as part of an “intensive effort to help protect human health and the environment from the effects of toxic substances and hazardous wastes . . . industry needs that kind of information; the Defense Department needs it. And there isn’t the research infrastructure, or at least not all of it in a central place, to provide the basic and applied research that will result in some practical solutions” (Tulanian, Summer 1989).

---

The Center was to be interdisciplinary with its principal physical location at Tulane Medical Center. A core faculty Research Council was immediately identified consisting of 12 Tulane Medical Center, 4 Uptown, and 3 Xavier members. The official DoD award celebration to inaugurate the CBR was held at Xavier on April 24, 1989. In July, President Kelly asked the Faculty Research Council to develop a “comprehensive plan for a truly interdisciplinary center and coherent program of scientific research and public policy studies.” In the next five years, that programmatic plan for the CBR was defined and refined as its buildings took shape and its faculty developed.

Hans Weill, MD, Schlieder Foundation Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, and CBR Director from 1989 to 1993 was succeeded in January 1995, by Dr. John A. McLachlan, former scientific director at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. In the late 1990’s, the CBR came under a clearly defined administrative direction. With the inception of Dr. McLachlan’s leadership, CBR ties to the institutional and faculty environment of Tulane and Xavier were strengthened operationally.

---

The CBR in its second decade continues to be led by Dr. McLachlan, who is assisted by an extraordinary executive staff. An effective administrative operation is in place. A highly creative Information Technology Operation with nine connected programmatic sites has developed strong communication links within the three campuses and with the external community of scholars and citizens. The CBR Faculty Council, composed of faculty from the three campuses, meet every other month to provide advice and counsel. The partnership between Tulane and Xavier, envisioned 12 years ago, remains strong and productive.