Her Story
About Michelle
Michelle Dumont is a seasoned healthcare professional, clinical research leader, and public health advocate with more than 20 years of experience in medicine and patient care. Based in New Orleans, she currently serves as Senior Clinical Research Coordinator at Tulane University School of Medicine, where she leads multiple gastrointestinal research studies while pursuing her Doctor of Public Health degree at Tulane University Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Michelle’s professional credentials include Certified Clinical Research Coordinator (CCRC), ACRP Project Manager (ACRP-PM), and Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT), reflecting her deep expertise in both clinical care and research management.
Michelle began her healthcare journey as a respiratory therapist at the age of 18 and spent more than 16 years at the University of Virginia Medical Center, where she worked in highly collaborative teaching and research environments. Her experience in cystic fibrosis and ALS clinics sparked a passion for clinical research and interdisciplinary care. Today, her work focuses on advancing gastrointestinal research, including innovative gut mapping studies that examine how ancestry and environmental factors influence gut health. Her research interests are deeply rooted in health equity, with a commitment to understanding and addressing disparities in healthcare access, quality, and outcomes across diverse populations.
In addition to her work in research and public health, Michelle is also a published children’s author and licensed private pilot, reflecting her curiosity, creativity, and drive for lifelong learning. Her advocacy for health equity is profoundly personal, shaped in part by her family’s experience navigating mental healthcare challenges for her son. That experience strengthened her dedication to seeing the whole patient and recognizing the important connection between mental and physical health, particularly for individuals living with chronic illnesses. Through her leadership, research, and advocacy, Michelle continues to make a meaningful impact in healthcare while inspiring others through her resilience, compassion, and commitment to improving lives.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michelle
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my curiosity that has never left me. I'm one of those people who will dig and dig and dig for whatever information, wanting to know why something is the way it is, how to fix it, or how it works. You need that for research - you have to want to understand what all the feeders are to a problem, what causes it, or why it works a certain way. I dig in all directions to understand things. It's almost like being a detective, and I think I could have been a good detective if I wasn't in research. I also think I've managed to maintain empathy throughout my career, which isn't as easy as it sounds. In the medical field, especially when looking at mental health and other areas, there's burnout and people hit an empathy wall. But I've thought about how I've managed to maintain that empathy and understanding for why people do things that may not be good for them. I had to learn to look at addiction and behavior change differently - like if you really like cheesecake and somebody tells you tomorrow you can never have it again, you can start to understand what another person may be going through. It's hard to change daily habits, and understanding that helps me connect with patients and stay curious about the root causes rather than just blaming people for their health issues.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I don't know if I received it exactly, but I've always told my children you never stop learning. It never stops. I think when I was coming up, or the generation before me, you went to school - either you graduated high school and went straight to work, or you went and got a bachelor's degree and went to work, but there wasn't this thought process that it was lifelong learning. So when I was raising my children, I told them it's never really over. You don't have to constantly run around and get every degree, but it is a process that you should have an open mind and know that things will evolve, and you need to evolve with it.
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