Dr. Annelies De Wulf

Emergency Medicine Physician

Dr. Annelies De Wulf is an Emergency Medicine Physician at the University Medical Center of New Orleans. She is the Director in International Emergency Medicine, Director of Injury Prevention, and an Associate Professor in the Spirit of Charity, Louisiana State University Emergency Medicine Residency in New Orleans. Much of her academic teaching is focused on patient-centered care, social determinants of health, and advocacy for vulnerable populations.

Hurricane Katrina occurred during her medical school at Tulane University. Being part of the medical establishment at that time, learning about the needs of her community, and feeling part of the rebuilding of the city, Dr. De Wulf decided to make her future in New Orleans with the aim of building a healthier and more resilient city. She stayed in New Orleans for her Emergency Medicine residency, then returned home after her fellowship training.

Dr. De Wulf briefly left New Orleans to pursue a fellowship in International Emergency Medicine at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, New York, where she also received a Master’s in Public Health. During that time, she focused her training on community health, capacity building in resource-limited settings, and gun violence prevention. She also worked on emergency care capacity building projects in Haiti and Ghana.

She became active in EMEDEX International, an organization dedicated to meaningful educational exchange in Emergency Medicine as well as global emergency care capacity building. She subsequently joined the Board of Directors, and became Director of Haiti Programs. She is also the Past President of the American College of Academic International Medicine, an organization focused on improving quality of medical care worldwide.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. De Wulf had the opportunity to turn much of her energy towards the New Orleans region. She worked closely with her husband, the founder of the Krewe of Red Beans, as the Mardi Gras parade group refocused their efforts from parade-going and costume-making to protecting the community from the health and economic impacts of COVID.

She also spent several years working as an Associate Program Director in the LSU Spirit of Charity Emergency Medicine Residency, helping run the program through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that the Emergency Medicine program was on the front line during the pandemic, main areas of focus were COVID-19 responses and resident wellness, as well as mentorship, and diversity, equity and inclusion within the program.

Having worked in gun violence prevention for a decade through supporting in-hospital operations of gun violence interruption and prevention programs, as well as through the personal experience of taking care of innumerable victims of gun violence in Emergency Departments, violence prevention is a passion of Dr. De Wulf’s. She has become the Director of Injury Prevention within the Section of Emergency Medicine, and has focused on working with the City of New Orleans and the University Medical Center of New Orleans to envision and implement sustainable solutions to the epidemic of gun violence in New Orleans.