Model and Strategy
This project creates a powerful scientific team for actionable research on firearm violence and leadership on prevention efforts that will save lives now and for generations to come.
Firearm violence is among America’s most important health and social problems. In the past ten years, civilian firearm deaths in the U.S. outnumbered American combat fatalities in World War II. Mass shootings are reshaping the character of American public life. Thirty years ago, VPRP’s research and policy work helped establish the public health approach to firearm violence and prove that sound scientific evidence underlies effective public policy. Today, efforts to gather and apply that evidence are threatened by a critical lack of trained scientists and policy experts. This project responds directly. Its purpose is to launch the careers of new, highly-trained researchers – experts in epidemiology, criminology, policy analysis, and program development –
whose work will prevent firearm violence.
Impact
This award will help launch the careers of new scientists who have made long-term commitments to firearm violence research and policy action. With mentorship from senior investigators, they will lead and collaborate on cutting-edge research, policy development and evaluation, and strategic communication. By far the most important effect will be the beneficial impact of new policies and programs based on VPRP's research or adopted with our assistance. Our strategic communication will help ensure that effective policies here in California are taken up by policymakers in other states, and we will work to implement in this state interventions that have been found to be effective elsewhere.
Two ripple effects will apply across geography, and one across time. First, as we train new investigators, some will relocate to other institutions to establish themselves. An enlarging network of these “alumni” will facilitate multisite studies, which are sometime critical in answering complex questions and establishing policy effectiveness. Second, new publicly-funded research centers will likely be established, following California’s model and with our assistance. At the time of writing, New York’s legislature is considering legislation, and Washington and Hawaii have bills in draft. Our success in California, to which this project will contribute, will stimulate such replications. Over time, this investment in people-as-startups will provide continuing returns as researchers trained through this project continue to add to the nation’s store of scientific knowledge about firearm violence and prevention efforts based on that knowledge. In the long run these returns will compound, as researchers trained by us go on to recruit junior partners of their own.
Leadership
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Garen Wintemute, MD, MPH
Director