Jessica Hume, Ph.D., MFA (email)
Jessica C. Hume is an Associate Professor and department chair. Dr. Hume came to healthcare by a circuitous route, graduating from Bellarmine in 2005 with a B.A. in English before moving on to an M.F.A. in creative writing from Spalding University and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities (with a focus in medical humanities) from the University of Louisville. In 2009, Dr. Hume returned to Bellarmine and served as director of the writing center for two years before transitioning into a full-time position teaching in the Galileo Learning Community for students in the health sciences, which she has held since 2011. In 2021, Dr. Hume became the founding program director for Bellarmine’s Health Humanities program, which was funded by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Hume has presented in the U.S., the Netherlands, England, and Spain, and published several book chapters.
Her academic interests include breast cancer narratives, illness narratives from marginalized populations, medical history, health disparities in Louisville, teaching compassion to healthcare providers, reducing burnout in healthcare workers, and anything else related to interdisciplinary concepts of health and wellness. She is a creative thinker, a problem solver, an avid crafter, voracious reader, devoted fan of drag, and a collector of aged animals, vintage clothes, and medical ephemera. Away from work, she spends her time chasing her son and her backyard chickens.
Dr. Madeline Tomlinson
Dr. Tomlinson is an Assistant Professor of Public Health and Health Administration. She moved to Louisville to complete her Ph.D. in Epidemiology and MPH focusing on Global Maternal
Child Health from the University of Louisville after earning her bachelor's degree in the History of Public Health, Science and Medicine from Yale University. Dr. Tomlinson joined Bellarmine in 2023 after a post-doctoral fellowship with the Envirome
Institute at the University of Louisville. Additionally, she taught undergraduate and graduate level classes at the University of Louisville for 4 years as a part-time instructor.
Her research interests are in the areas of maternal and child health, women’s and reproductive health, environmental epidemiology, and global health. Dr. Tomlinson is currently leading a research project in Nigeria working on improving menstrual
hygiene for adolescent females. In addition, Dr. Tomlinson collaborates with researchers at the American Heart Association to help mitigate youth vaping and researchers at the University of Louisville to evaluate the health impacts of greener neighborhoods.
Dr. Tomlinson’s classes focus on global health, maternal and child health, epidemiologic and statistical methods, and research methods.
Dr. Lyndsey Blair
Dr. Blair is an Assistant Professor of Healthcare Administration and Public Health. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Epidemiology
and Population Health, a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a focus in Epidemiology, and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biology from the University of Louisville. Dr. Blair is joining Bellarmine after more than 5 years working as a Senior Community
Epidemiologist with the Lincoln Trail District Health Department. She possesses a strong foundation in both biological sciences and the intricate dynamics of population health. She has carved a niche as a skilled biostatistician, employing advanced
statistical methodologies to analyze and interpret epidemiological data.
Dr. Blair's research endeavors are primarily focused on the intersection of environmental exposures, epidemiology, and public health. Currently, her work involves a comprehensive evaluation of radon exposure and its potential impact on breast cancer survival.
In addition, Dr. Blair is deeply engaged in the realm of legal epidemiology. She is at the forefront of evaluating the impact of private well water testing laws, specifically those pertaining to arsenic, and their potential correlation with bladder
cancer. She has a keen interest in policy-related approaches to addressing environmental health concerns. Her classes focus on advanced statistical methods as well as managerial epidemiologic methods.
Chris Ekstrom, Department Assistant