FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, December 19, 2022
CONTACT: Patricia Lamiell, lamiell@tc.columbia.edu, 973-449-7086
New York, NY – The largest national Research Conference on Firearm Injury Prevention launched a new professional research society and named Sonali Rajan, a school gun violence prevention expert and an associate professor of health education at Teachers College, Columbia University, as its first president.
Rajan, who studies gun violence as a public health issue and, in particular, its effect on children and in K-12 schools, will lead the new Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms. The official public announcement of this new society was made at the National Research Conference on Firearm Injury Prevention, held last month in Washington, D.C.
The new society will be the first multidisciplinary, professional society dedicated to supporting the science and study of firearm violence and its impacts on communities and individuals across the life course.
“Both this conference and the formation of this professional society represent such a big moment for this field,” Rajan said. “An extraordinary number of individuals have come together to launch this effort. I am so hopeful, knowing how many incredible people are working together across disciplines, organizations, experiences, and geography, that gun violence is a problem we can solve.”
Dr. Rajan will be joined by Dr. Jesenia Pizarro, Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University, as the Society’s inaugural Secretary, and Dr. Marc Zimmerman, Marshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor of Public Health and Co-Director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention at the University of Michigan, as the inaugural Treasurer.
“We are extremely encouraged by the interest in this year’s conference and the significant growth in the field of firearm injury prevention research,” said the conference Executive Committee co-chairs. “This society will serve as a transdisciplinary professional organization that promotes and supports research and evidence-based practice to prevent firearm-related harm across the life course. It will also provide a collaborative environment for those interested in addressing the complex issue of firearm injury prevention to ensure multi-faceted, evidence-based strategies are at the forefront of discussion.”
Following the reversal of a decades-long halt on federal dollars being allocated to this field of study, firearm injury prevention science has grown significantly in recent years. This year, researchers found that firearms were the leading cause of death among children and teens ages 1 to 19 in 2020, surpassing motor vehicle crashes. The new research society will promote and support rigorous research and evaluation of evidence-based practices to prevent firearm-related harms across the life course.
The society’s goals are to promote and advance interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary scientific research of firearm-related harm prevention across the United States and internationally. In doing so, it will validate and establish this field as a viable career path and nurture and support the next generation of researchers in this field. The society is especially committed to increasing opportunities and support for researchers from communities and populations affected by firearm-related harms and from underrepresented populations.
Membership is open to any person who is or has been actively engaged in research in the field of firearm injury prevention or firearm-related harms (including students, postdocs, and trainees). The society plans to organize and support an annual scientific professional conference that highlights rigorous peer-reviewed scientific research and evidence-based practice.
Rajan, whose primary affiliation is with the Department of Health and Behavior Studies at Teachers College, holds a secondary faculty appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She is also currently the Senior Associate Director of the Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College.
“The outpouring of interest for this historic gun violence research conference and the new society of gun violence prevention scientists far exceeded expectations and clearly shows that there’s been a pent up need for this work on behalf of the nation,” said Charles Branas, Gelman Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. “All of the many scientists who coordinated the conference were enthusiastically in unison that Sonali Rajan was the obvious choice as the inaugural leader of the society. The nation is lucky to have her taking this on.”
This year’s inaugural conference was co-organized and supported by the Columbia Scientific Union for the Reduction of Gun Violence (SURGE), which Rajan co-founded with Branas and their colleagues at the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, the RAND Corporation, and the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research (NCGVR). It was supported by several federal and philanthropic sponsors. The conference included more than 500 researchers from approximately 37 states and five countries, representing roughly 250 different institutions. It included over 260 presentations detailing work in more than 20 research disciplines including medicine, public health, anthropology, business, economics, criminal justice, law, sociology, social work, political science, and engineering.
Board Members of the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms (listed alphabetically):
Dr. Charles Branas, Gelman Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Dr. Shani Buggs, Assistant Professor, Violence Prevention Research Program, University of California Davis School of Medicine
Dr. Patrick Carter, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Co-Director, University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention
Dr. Rebecca Cunningham, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Vice President for Research, University of Michigan
Dr. Stephen Hargarten, Professor, Associate Dean for Global Health, and Director of the Comprehensive Injury Center, Medical College of Wisconsin
Dr. Andrew Morral, Senior Behavioral Scientist and Director of the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, RAND Corporation
Dr. Megan Ranney, Deputy Dean, Professor of Emergency Medicine, and Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University
Dr. Joseph Richardson, Professor of African-American Studies and Medical Anthropology, University of Maryland
Dr. Therese Richmond, Professor of Nursing and Associate Dean, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Dr. Frederick Rivara, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington
Dr. Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, Professor of Epidemiology, University of Washington
Dr. Daniel Webster, Bloomberg Professor of American Health and Co-Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Johns Hopkins University
About Teachers College, Columbia University
Founded in 1887, Teachers College, Columbia University, the first and largest graduate school of education in the United States, is perennially ranked among the nation’s best. Teachers College’s mission is to create a smarter, healthier, and more equitable and peaceful world. Teachers College engages in research and prepares professionals in its three main areas of expertise—education, health and psychology—to work with public and private entities in local, national and global communities and inform public policy. Students choose from among 150 separate programs to earn graduate degrees, which are conferred by Columbia University. While it is closely affiliated with Columbia University and collaborates with it on many programs, the College is an independent, autonomous institution with a separate, independent governing board, president, and financial endowment.