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Firearm Injury Prevention: State of the Science and the Potential of Nurse-Led Research

November 9 - November 10, 2022 | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm (ET) | Virtual Event

On November 9 - November 10, NINR hosted a workshop to explore how nurse scientists and nursing research can contribute to firearm injury prevention. The workshop included an examination of current research in various disciplines, with the goal of developing a research trajectory that advances nursing knowledge, practice, and policy related to firearm injury prevention.

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Featured Speakers

Rinad Beidas, PhD Rinad Beidas, PhDChair and Ralph Seal Paffenbarger Professor of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

Rinad S. Beidas, PhD, is Chair and Ralph Seal Paffenbarger Professor of Medical Social Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. Previously, Dr. Beidas served as founding Director of the University of Pennsylvania Implementation Science Center at the Leonard Davis Institute (PISCE@LDI) from 2017-2022. Dr. Beidas’s research leverages insights from implementation science and behavioral economics to make it easier for clinicians, leaders, and organizations to use best practices to improve the quality and equity of care and enhance health outcomes. She works across areas including mental health, firearm safety promotion, cancer, HIV, and cardiovascular disease and collaborates closely with key stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, health system leaders, payers, and policymakers.

Tia Bell Tia Bell, MAFounder/CEO, T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project

Tia Bell became familiar with the struggles of at-risk youth early in life as the oldest child of an adolescent mother in Washington, D.C. Overpowered by crime, defeat, and disadvantage, 7 out of 10 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) were lived before the age of 10 years old. By the age of 17, gun violence caused dozens of loved ones pain or silence including her mother, who is a survivor, and her late uncle. In Tia's determination to find significance in life's pain she found peace on the court winning Gatorade Player of the Year in 2006 and 2007 while attending HD Woodson Senior High School she earned her an invitation to serve as a scholastic member of the Wolfpack Women's Basketball Club.

In 2011, Tia received her Bachelor’s of Science in Sport Management from NC State University. Following multiple acute knee injuries which ended her basketball career, Tia was afforded the opportunity to become the first in her family to complete high school, college and now pursue a Master’s degree. It was during this difficult shift that she discovered herself and her calling to serve and support the young. Tia has gained meaningful experience in undergraduate admissions, college access, school counseling, coaching, and gun violence prevention. As the Founder of FOuR, LLC and The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project, today she lives to prevent gun violence through the intersection of positive youth development, public health, cultural responsiveness. In this light, youth are positioned to create and design solutions of holistic healing for the youth, from the youth and STOP the spread of the disease of gun violence.

Dara R. Blachman-Demner, PhDHealth Scientist Administrator, NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)

Dr. Dara Blachman-Demner is a health scientist administrator in the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the NIH. In that role, she is primarily focused on efforts to facilitate the adoption of behavioral and social science findings into health research and practice. A licensed psychologist, Dr. Blachman-Demner received her B.A. from Duke University and her Ph.D. in clinical/community psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her clinical internship at the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Family Institute/School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Prior to joining OBSSR in January 2017, she served as a social science analyst at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) for 6 years, where she initiated and oversaw portfolios related to the impact of youth violence and victimization experiences on health outcomes. Prior to NIJ, Dr. Blachman-Demner served as the coordinator of the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, a collaboration of 22 Federal agencies that produce or use data related to children and families. Dr. Blachman-Demner began her Federal career as a Society for Research in Child Development/American Association for the Advancement of Science policy fellow at OBSSR from 2006 to 2008. Dr. Blachman-Demner’s research interests lie in the area of implementation science and related efforts designed to facilitate the translation, adoption, and scale-up of evidence-based health interventions, practices, and knowledge into clinical, community, and public health settings. Within this arena, she has interest in working to coordinate across the health, justice, education, and social service sectors to ensure that health interventions reach individuals in a variety of settings as well as in community-engaged research to facilitate adoption and implementation. In addition, she remains focused on advancing the science of prevention and treatment of mental disorders and promotion of positive health outcomes among children and youth with a particular emphasis on youth from minority and traditionally underserved communities.

Shalanda Bynum Shalanda A. Bynum, PhD, MPHProgram Director, National Institute of Nursing Research

Dr. Bynum is a sociobehavioral scientist who joins NINR from the Center for Scientific Review where she served as a Scientific Review Officer in the Division of AIDS, Behavioral and Population Sciences. Prior to NIH service, Dr. Bynum was an assistant professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. As an academician, her research program focused on addressing the unequal burden of cancer and other diseases among minoritized populations. More specifically, her work involved understanding and intervening upon the lived experiences that produce health inequities and perpetuate health disparities. These factors centered on literacy and language, geography, historical mistrust, healthcare system failures, and other social factors. Dr. Bynum holds a BS in psychology from Florida A&M University and a MPH and PhD in health promotion from the University of South Carolina at Columbia. Dr. Bynum also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral oncology at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. At NINR, Dr. Bynum oversees a research grant portfolio focused broadly on the social determinants of health and health equity; violence, adversity, trauma; and sexual health.

Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RNProfessor, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing

Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN is a Professor in the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. She has published more than 300 articles, seven books and been Principle Investigator of more than 15 major NIH, CDC and NIJ grants in her decades of advocacy policy work collaborating with domestic violence survivors, advocates, health care professionals and marginalized communities. She is particularly known for her research on domestic violence homicide and the development and validation of the Danger Assessment (DA) that helps IPV survivors more accurately assess their risk of being killed or almost killed by their abusive partner that is used widely in the US and globally.

Patrick Carter, MD Patrick Carter, MDCo-Director, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention Co-Director, University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center

Dr. Patrick Carter is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine (School of Medicine) and Health Behavior & Health Education (School of Public Health) at the University of Michigan. He is the Co-Director of the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, the Co-Director of the CDC-funded University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center, and part of the leadership team for the NICHD-funded Firearm Safety among Children and Teens (FACTS) Consortium. His research is broadly within the field of firearm injury prevention, particularly emergency department (ED) interventions for reducing risky firearm behaviors and violent injury outcomes.

Alana D. Fields, PhDStaff Scientist, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Center for Adolescent and Young Adult Health

Alana Dionne Fields, PhD, is a Black Queer Feminist and graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a PhD in Sociology. Dr. Fields’ dissertation is entitled “Coaching Boys into Men: Exploring Implementation, Evaluation and Content of a Gender-Transformative Violence Prevention Program.” Her research and teaching interest lies at the intersections of Gender, Race, Violence Prevention/Intervention, Community-based participatory research, Sports, Feminist Thought, Critical Race Theory, Black Queer Theory, and Ethnomethodology. Dr. Fields earned a bachelor’s degree in African American Studies with a Minor in Graphic Design from Washington University (St. Louis, MO), a master’s degree in American Culture Studies from Washington University (St. Louis, MO), and a PhD in Sociology with a certificate in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies from the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA). She completed a two-year postdoctoral appointment with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Center for Adolescent and Young Adult Health (CAYAH). Currently, Dr. Fields is serving as a staff scientist at CAYAH, directing facilitation and training of youth violence intervention programing.

Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, PhD, MPH, RN, CPH, FAANAssociate Professor, Duke University School of Nursing

Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, PhD, MPH, RN, CPH, FAAN, is Associate Professor at Duke University School of Nursing and the Faculty Lead for the Population Health Research Area of Excellence for the school’s Center for Nursing Research. She also serves as the Co-Director of the Community Engagement Core for Duke’s Clinical Translational Science Institute. Her research focuses on describing the intersection of intimate partner violence, substance abuse, HIV and mental health among Latinos in the U.S. and the development of culturally-tailored interventions to address these. She uses a syndemic orientation, mixed methods, and community engaged strategies to address these areas of interest. She is currently the principal investigator of a longitudinal study funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health (1 R01 MD012249-01) that will help identify the impact that acculturation stress and resilience have on biobehavioral and mental health outcomes among young adult Latino immigrants over time. She is also currently the principal investigator of a Hillman Foundation Emergent Innovation Award that will develop a smartphone application that aims to prevent intimate partner violence among young adult Latino immigrants. Dr. Gonzalez-Guarda is committed to building and nurturing the next generation of nurses to promote health equity. She was one of the five nurses who served on the Institute of Medicine Committee that produced the landmark Future of Nursing Report (2010), was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on the National Advisory Council on Nursing Education and Practice (NACNEP, 2012-2016), and has been the principal investigator of various programs that promote health disparities research careers for underrepresented minority nurses and students from various health professions. Dr. Gonzalez-Guarda is an alumna of the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nurses Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars Program, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Katelin Hoskins, PhD, MBE, CRNP Katelin Hoskins, PhD, MBE, CRNPAssistant Professor, Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences, School of Nursing Associate Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics University of Pennsylvania

Katelin Hoskins, PhD, MBE, CRNP is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences. She recently completed a NIMH T32 postdoctoral fellowship in Implementation Research at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Hoskins graduated with a PhD from Penn Nursing as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar. Her research is focused on partnering with stakeholders to equitably implement and scale up evidence-based interventions to prevent youth suicide, with a focus on firearm-related lethal means safety. She employs implementation science frameworks, mixed method designs, and behavioral economic tools to advance this scholarship. Dr. Hoskins is a practicing Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.

Hsing-Fang Hsieh, PhD, MPH Hsing-Fang Hsieh, PhD, MPHResearch Assistant Professor, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, University of Michigan 

Dr. Hsieh is a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. She received her MPH and Ph.D. in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her research focuses on applying resilience theory and multi-domain analysis to understand disparities in firearm injury and chronic conditions resulting from racism and violence exposure. Her research also seeks to identify behavioral, interpersonal, and community factors that promote resilience among communities shouldering the unjust burden of violence and racism and therefore inform preventive efforts.

Christine Hunter Christine M. Hunter, PhD, ABPPActing Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, and Acting Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Dr. Christine Hunter is the Acting Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, and Acting Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In these roles, she supports the OBSSR mission to enhance the impact of health-related behavioral and social sciences research, coordinate and integrate these sciences within the larger NIH research enterprise and communicate health-related behavioral and social sciences research findings. Christine and is also a Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service. Previously she served as the Director of Behavioral Research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) where she built an innovative and diverse behavioral science portfolio focused on diabetes and obesity research. Dr. Hunter obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The University of Memphis and completed her psychology internship at Wilford Hall Medical Center in 1997. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Health Psychology in 2001 and was Board Certified in Clinical Health Psychology in 2005 by the American Board of Professional Psychology. Prior to joining NIDDK in 2006, she served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force for ten years in a variety of clinical, management, research, and policy positions. Dr. Hunter's research interests span the translational spectrum and include an emphasis on advancing behavioral ontology development and the application of rigorous but varied methods and designs in the behavioral and social sciences. With the goal of developing and testing more targeted and efficacious health behavior change interventions, she’s interested in research to uncover mechanisms of behavior change, understand individual differences in treatment response, and translate basic science finding in to meaningful human application. She is also interested in implementation science to more rapidly advance the reach, uptake, adaptation, and scale up of effective approaches to improve health and mental health into routine care, community settings, and public health practice.

Sara Jacoby, PhD, MPH, MSN Sara Jacoby, PhD, MPH, MSNAssistant Professor, the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

Sara Jacoby, PhD, MPH, MSN is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Her research addresses the socio-structural determinants of injury risk and recovery in urban environments with emphasis on place and policy-based etiologies of racialized disparities in trauma and violence victimization. Her work identifies ways in which health risks and opportunities for injury recovery have been constructed in American cities and informs effective means of injury prevention and trauma care in systematically marginalized communities. She also focuses on legal and ethical issues that arise when healthcare and law enforcement intersect in the emergency care of traumatically injured people. Her research has been sponsored by the NIH, CDC and private foundations. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research.

Erin Maughan, PhD, RN, PHNA-BC, FNASN, FAAN Erin Maughan, PhD, RN, PHNA-BC, FNASN, FAANAssociate Professor, School of Nursing, George Mason University

Erin D. Maughan PhD, RN, PHNA-BC, FNASN, FAAN is an associate professor in the School of Nursing at George Mason University. She has over 22 years of experience working in school health as a frontline school nurse, the state school and adolescent school nurse consultant for the Utah Department of Health, and as a school nurse researcher. As the former Director of Research at the National Association of School Nurses she co-led the development of a national uniform data set for school nurses, identification of school nurse indicators, and the creation of NASN’s Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice™. Dr Maughan is also the CEO of Center for School Health Innovation & Quality, which focuses to advance data driven school health. Her research focuses on infrastructure, policy, and social structures that influence school nurse staffing and student outcomes. Dr Maughan is a Fellow in the National Academy of School Nurses and American Academy of Nursing.

Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD, FSAHM Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD, FSAHMDivision Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics, Public Health and Clinical and Translational Science, Edmund R. McCluskey Chair in Pediatric Medical Education, Co-Lead, The Pittsburgh Study, Co-Director, Community PARTners (Community Engagement) Core, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Dr. Miller is Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Public Health, and Clinical and Translational Science and holds the Edmund R. McCluskey Chair in Pediatric Medical Education at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is also Director of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and the Medical Director of Community and Population Health at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Her research addresses interpersonal violence prevention and adolescent health promotion in clinical and community settings. She serves as the Academic Co-Director of Community PARTners (the community engagement core) for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. She is co-director of a community partnered, collective impact initiative in Allegheny County called The Pittsburgh Study.

Bridgette M. (Brawner) Rice Bridgette M. (Brawner) Rice, PhD, MDiv, APRNRichard and Marianne Kreider Endowed Professor in Nursing for Vulnerable Populations, M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at Villanova University

Dr. Bridgette M. (Brawner) Rice is the Richard and Marianne Kreider Endowed Professor in Nursing for Vulnerable Populations in the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at Villanova University. She holds degrees from Villanova University (BSN ‘03), the University of Pennsylvania (MSN ‘05, PhD ‘09) and Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University (MDiv ‘17). Dr. Rice began her nursing career in neonatal intensive care at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She has since expanded her work to community-based practice. Her methodological advances have been applied to address multiple health inequities (e.g., youth mental health service utilization, cardiovascular disease risk among young Black men, gun violence) where she uses novel approaches including mixed methods research and GIS mapping. Cognizant of the role of geography in health, her spatially-based research explicates and intervenes in factors such as neighborhood disadvantage to prevent disease and promote health equity. Dr. Rice is a staunch justice advocate who believes that research can be leveraged as an advocacy tool to ensure all individuals have an opportunity to achieve their full health potential. Her work has been featured through multiple media outlets, and she has received numerous honors and awards, including the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Protégée Award in 2015 and the International Society of Psychiatric Nurses Diversity and Equity Award in 2021.

Terry Richmond, PhD, RN, FAAN Terry Richmond, PhD, RN, FAANAndrea B. Laporte Professor of Nursing, Associate Dean for Research & Innovation, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Richmond is the Andrea B. Laporte Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing and serves as its Associate Dean for Research & Innovation. She has an extensive program of research aimed at improving recovery from serious injury by addressing the interaction between physical injury and its psychological repercussions. Her research includes a focus on prevention of violence and firearm violence which is grounded in a commitment to social justice. The National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Nursing Research, Centers for Disease Control, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health have supported her research. She is a member of an interdisciplinary team selected as a Catalyst Awardee for the Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge to examine a nursing-driven intervention to prevent falls in older adults using remote sensing and artificial intelligence. Dr. Richmond sits on the Executive Committee of the CDC-funded Penn Injury Science Center where she directs the Research Core.

Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, MD, MPH, PhD Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, MD, MPH, PhDBartley Dobb Professor for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Professor of Epidemiology, Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics, and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington

Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, MD, MPH, PhD is the Bartley Dobb Professor for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Professor of Epidemiology, Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics, and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Washington. The overarching goal of his research is to inform equitable programs and population-level policies that prevent firearm-related harm. Rowhani-Rahbar has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles including 80 that are centrally about firearm injury and violence. His research on firearms has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Justice, Arnold Ventures, National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, Fund for a Safer Future, State of Washington, and City of Seattle.

Katherine Theall, PhDKatherine Theall, PhDCecile Usdin Professorship in Women’s Health, Director, Mary Amelia Center for Women's Health Equity Research, and Senior Director, Violence Prevention Institute

Dr. Katherine Theall is a Professor at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Senior Director of the Tulane Violence Prevention Institute and Director of the Mary Amelia Center for Women’s Health Equity Research. As a social epidemiologist, her research focuses on reducing health inequities by understanding and altering neighborhood environments and social policies in underserved populations locally, nationally, and internationally. She has been PI or co-PI of more than 25 federally- and privately-supported research and training awards. She has worked and published in the field of violence prevention for over two decades and has a highly interdisciplinary background, with educational and practical experience in social epidemiology and community health and prevention sciences. Her work involves close collaboration with both state and city governments, where she has been involved in research, programming, and translational efforts to improve health equity and well-being.

Nicholas Thomson, PhD, UKCP, CPC Nicholas Thomson, PhD, UKCP, CPCAssociate Professor, Departments of Surgery & Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University

Nicholas D. Thomson, Ph.D., UKCP, is a Forensic Psychologist and Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He is also the Director of Research for VCU Health’s Injury and Violence Prevention Program. Dr. Thomson’s research and clinical expertise is in understanding the biopsychosocial mechanisms of violence and personality disorders, and developing and evaluating violence intervention strategies. Dr. Thomson’s research has been funded by CDC, NICHD, and NIMH.

Marc Zimmerman, PhD Marc Zimmerman, PhDMarshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor, Co-Director, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, Department of Psychology, Combined Program in Education and Psychology, University of Michigan

Marc A. Zimmerman, Ph.D. is the Marshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education in the School of Public Health, and a Professor of Psychology and the Combined Program in Education and Psychology all at the University of Michigan (UM). He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from University of Illinois. Dr. Zimmerman is the Co-Director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention at UM. He is also Director of the CDC-funded Michigan Youth Violence Preventio and Co-Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance funded National Center for School Safety. He led the development of the Youth Empowerment Solutions after-school violence prevention program and public health applications of place-based change for community improvement. Dr. Zimmerman is the Editor of Youth & Society. His research focuses on adolescent health and resiliency and the application of empowerment theory focused primarily on violence prevention.