Michael Hoerger, PhD, MSCR, MBA, is a tenured Associate Professor of Psychology at Tulane University and a licensed clinical psychologist and health scientist. He serves as the founding Program Lead for Population Science at the Tulane Cancer Center and leads the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative. His work focuses on partnering with stakeholders to create change in response to “big problems” of high public health significance.
As a Social Entrepreneurship Professor at the Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking, Dr. Hoerger will bring together Tulane’s uptown and downtown campuses, the broader state of Louisiana, and national and international communities. His work is guided by Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation, or PDIA, an approach closely related to design thinking. PDIA focuses on identifying big, nebulous problems for which there is no immediate and obvious solution, then using stakeholder input to guide iterative improvements until generating a groundswell of support or new tactics for achieving substantive change. Drawing on his work in cancer care, COVID mitigation, pollution outcomes in the industrial corridor, and lung cancer screening, he will help students understand the practical and ethical struggles of enacting change.
Among academics, Dr. Hoerger is most known for his work in psychosocial oncology, listening to patients and clinicians to identify pathways toward improving quality of life in cancer. His research addresses patient-centered communication, healthcare decision making, palliative care, and support for patients and families facing serious illness. He has led research supported by the American Cancer Society, the National Institutes of Health, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and has contributed to over 130 publications in psychology, medicine, and public health.
Outside academia, Dr. Hoerger is most known for his contributions to battling the ongoing threat of COVID. Through the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative, he runs a leading national COVID dashboard (pmc19.com) that uses wastewater data harmonized with case estimation models to translate obscure public health statistics into “numbers that matter” to patients, families, clinicians, and public health leaders. This work is grounded in disability justice and is used by people who are immunocompromised or living with severe illnesses, family caregivers, and scientific and public health experts across the United States.
Dr. Hoerger completed a PhD in clinical psychology, an MSCR in medical science, and an MBA in financial analytics. He founded Tulane’s Health Psychology PhD Certificate Program. As a first-generation college student, he uses his lived experience to help trainees become the first in their initiatives. These perspectives shape his teaching, mentorship, research, care, and advocacy.