Ochsner Health is a system that delivers health to the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf South with a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate.
Ochsner Health is a system that delivers health to the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf South with a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate.
Thank you for choosing Ochsner Health for your care. We are committed to making an ongoing difference in the health of our communities.
Connect to care at Ochsner. Click on a featured specialty on the list or search for a specialty.
Ochsner is committed to a clinically-integrated research program with the ultimate goal of improving the health and wellness of our patients and communities. As the largest academic medical center in Louisiana, we are training the next generation of healthcare professionals to be leaders who can meet evolving healthcare challenges.
Discover Your Future At Ochsner! With unlimited growth potential, both professionally and personally, now is the time to start your future with Ochsner.
In 1939, Dr. Alton Ochsner, one of Ochsner's founders, was one of the first to discover the link between tobacco use and lung cancer. He then dedicated the rest of his life to educating the world on the dangerous effects of smoking.
Living the Legacy will be reflection of Dr. Ochsner's life's work and his breakthrough research.
In our opinion the increase in smoke with the universal custom of inhaling is probably a responsible factor [in the increase in pulmonary carcinoma], as the inhaled smoke, constantly repeated over a long period of time, undoubtedly is a source of chronic irritation to the bronchial mucosa.
- Alton Ochsner, MD and Michael DeBakey, MD, 1939
When Drs. Alton Ochsner and Michael DeBakey published their groundbreaking paper linking smoking and lung cancer in 1939, even the idea that lung cancer cases were increasing was controversial. Plenty of physicians just didn't accept or believe the mounting evidence that lung cancer was on the rise.
But Alton Ochsner was seeing more and more lung cancer patients in the operating room, and many of them were heavy smokers. Proving the link between smoking and lung cancer, treating the disease, and finding a cure became the focus of his research and put him at the center of a scientific controversy.
For years, physicians belittled his research and called his theories pure speculation. But he was right.
And that may be his greatest legacy-his efforts to warn the public about the dangers of smoking.
Doonesbury cartoon from February 14, 1993, mentions Dr. Alton Ochsner's discovery of the link between smoking and lung cancer.
The cartoon featured Mr. Butts, created by cartoonist Garry Trudeau, who first appeared in the comic strip when the character Mike Doonesbury is asked to create an ad that targets teenage smokers.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Want the latest on food and fitness, women's health, men's health, parenting and more? Sign up for our free newsletters!
Free 24/7 Assistance: Call the Nurse Care Line to talk to a specialty trained registered nurse.
Want the latest on food and fitness, women's health, men's health, parenting and more? Sign up for our free newsletters!
We'd love to know more about you so we can deliver the most relevant content.
Which of the following best describes you?