It's Baton Rouge: Out To Lunch

We know south Louisiana is famous for its good food and festivals, a vibrant petrochemical sector, and a thriving hospitality sector. Many of us may not realize that Louisiana leads the way in certain healthcare specialties - not just the diabetes and obesity research that goes on at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, but some really innovative care for very rare diseases. Kevin Tracy is Director of the National Hansen’s Disease Program, which is based right here in Baton Rouge and is the epicenter of Hansen’s Disease research and information in the United States. Hansen’s Disease is better known as Leprosy. Although it’s not the biblical plague it once was, it still exists around the world today. Fortunately, a lot more is known about it today than back in biblical times or even in the late 1800s, when south Louisiana was home to one of the country’s foremost leprosy hospitals, or leprosaria, in Carville. Today, that center remains open only as a museum, but the Hansen&r