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Harvard Injury Control Research Center

Our mission is to reduce the societal burden of injury and violence through surveillance, research, intervention, evaluation, outreach, dissemination, and training. 

About the HICRC

The Harvard Injury Control Research Center (HICRC) works to reduce the societal burden of injury and violence through research, intervention, evaluation, outreach, and training. Since its founding at Harvard Chan School in 1990, HICRC researchers have published hundreds of books, chapters, journal articles, editorials, and more on topics including: 

  • Suicide 
  • Gun ownership, storage, and carrying 
  • Batterers 
  • Alcohol and drug use 
  • Road rage 
  • Youth and family violence 

HICRC researchers were the first to, among other things, analyze national gun storage practices; explain the overestimation of self-defense gun use; describe the policy preferences of National Rifle Association members; and examine the prevalence of firearms on college campuses. 

HICRC turns research into practice through partnerships and collaborations with more than 60 local, national, and international institutions, ranging from the Massachusetts Veterans Health Administration to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the International Association of Chiefs of Police. HICRC researchers assisted injury experts in Greece and the European Union with protocols for the detection of intimate partner violence; co-founded the National Center for Suicide Prevention Training; created the National Violent Death Reporting System; and continually work with gun advocates to disseminate ways to reduce rates of gun suicide. 

Additionally, HICRC continues to elevate the injury field, still in its adolescence, and make the case that violence is a public health problem. HICRC sponsors five injury courses each year at Harvard and offers additional training to those interested in injury prevention research, including through postdoctoral fellowships and grand rounds. 

What we do

We study the causes and etiology of injury to develop and evaluate prevention and intervention strategies.  

We investigate areas of mortality and morbidity including suicide, intentional injuries in family or community settings, and unintentional and intentional injuries related to the use of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. We also conduct studies on transportation safety.  

We identify vulnerable populations—those who suffer an unusually high burden of mortality and morbidity due to injuries—and work to pinpoint the determinants of their injuries and ways to prevent them.  

Our impact

From spearheading firearm research to helping expand suicide prevention initiatives, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center has become a national leader in the field of injury and violence prevention.  

Our many accomplishments include

  • Creating the pilot of National Violent Death Reporting System for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
  • Increasing knowledge about firearms, including being the first to analyze national gun storage practices, explain the overestimation of self-defense gun use, describe the policy preferences of National Rifle Association members, and examine the prevalence of firearms on college campuses. 
  • Contributing scientific knowledge about the effects of drinking alcohol and its implications for transportation and safety policies. 
  • Training suicide prevention individuals and groups across the U.S and collaborating with guns dealers, gun ranges and gun trainers to reduce suicide. 
  • Working with local, federal, and international authorities to reduce the number of disabling and deadly injuries.  

Our funders

Since 2000

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

Health Resources and Services Administration 

Massachusetts Department of Public Health 

Maternal and Child Health Bureau 

National Institute of Child Health & Human Development 

National Institute of Justice 

U.S. Department of Education 

Utah State Government 

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention 

Annie E. Casey Foundation 

Atlantic Philanthropies 

David and Lucile Packard Foundation 

David Bohnett Foundation 

Fund for a Safer Future 

Joyce Foundation 

MacArthur Foundation 

National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research 

Open Society Institute 

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 

Harvard Global Health Institute 

Harvard School of Public Health Dean’s Challenge Grant 

Radcliffe Fellowship 

Our team

David Hemenway, PhD

David Hemenway, PhD, professor of health policy, is director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. He formerly spent a week each year at the University of Vermont as a James Marsh Visiting Professor-at-Large.

Dr. Hemenway teaches classes on injury and on economics. At Harvard Chan School, he has won 10 teaching awards as well as the inaugural community engagement award.

Dr. Hemenway has written widely on injury prevention, including articles on firearms, violence, suicide, child abuse, motor vehicle crashes, fires, falls and fractures. He headed the pilot for the National Violent Death Reporting System, which provides detailed and comparable information on suicide and homicide. In 2012 he was recognized by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention as one of the “20 most influential injury and violence professionals over the past 20 years.”

In articles on insurance, Dr. Hemenway described a general reason why low-risk individuals often buy insurance, and coined the term “propitious selection.” Recent economic studies have focused on empirically determining which goods are more and less positional (e.g., bought largely to “keep up with the Joneses”). An early statistics article, Why Your Classes are Larger than Average, has been anthologized in various mathematical collections. Dr. Hemenway has also written five books.

Our collaborators

Since 2010

Avanti Adhia, ScD
University of Washington School of Nursing
Collaboration focus: intimate partner violence
aadhia@uw.edu

Emmy Betz, MD, MPH
University of Colorado
Collaboration focus: suicide prevention
marian.betz@ucdenver.edu

Joseph Blocher, JD
Duke Law School
Collaboration focus: firearm surveys
blocher@law.duke.edu

Guilherme Borges, MD
Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico
Collaboration focus: suicide
guibor@imp.edu.mx

Anthony Braga, PhD
Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice
Collaboration focus: crime and violence
braga@andromeda.rutgers.edu

Philip Cook, PhD
Duke University
Collaboration focus: firearm issues
pcook@duke.edu

Nancy Dodson, MD, MPH
Children’s Hospital at Montefiore
Collaboration focus: public health approach
ndodson@montefiore.org

Dustin T. Duncan, ScD
New York University School of Medicine
Collaboration focus: youth violence
Dustin.Duncan@nyumc.org

Eric Fleegler, MD, MPH
Massachusetts General Hospital
Collaboration focus: firearms
efleegler@mgb.org

Erin Grinshteyn, PhD, MPH
University of San Francisco
Collaboration focus: international firearms
egrinshteyn@usfca.edu

Lisa Hepburn, PhD, MPH
Collaboration focus: firearm issues
lisaheburn@gmail.com

Christian Hoover, MPH
Brown University
Collaboration focus: guns, lead poisoning & suicide
choover@hsph.harvard.edu

Jonathan Howland, PhD, MPH
Boston University
Collaboration focus: falls
jhowl@bu.edu

Vageesh Jain, MBBS
Collaboration focus: firearm issues
vageeshjain@googlemail.com

Jon Jay, DrPh, JD, MA.
Boston University
Collaboration focus: machine learning & injury
jonjay@bu.edu

John Paul Jameson, PhD, MA.
Appalachian State University
Collaboration focus: suicide prevention training
jamesonjp@appstate.edu

Renee Johnson, PhD
Johns-Hopkins University
Collaboration focus: youth violence, suicide
rejohnso@jhsph.edu

Marcelo Justus, PhD
Extensao Universitaria
Collaboration focus: Brazil firearms
mjustus@unicamp.br

Harun Khan, MBBS
Collaboration focus: police homicide.

Louis Klarevas, PhD
Columbia University
Collaboration focus: mass shootings
ljk2149@tc.columbia.edu

Nancy Kreiger, PhD
Harvard University
Collaboration focus: segregation and assaults
ngreiger@hsph.harvard.edu

Lois Lee, MD, MPH
Boston Children’s Hospital
Collaboration focus: children and guns
Lois.Lee@childrens.harvard.edu

Dahianna Lopez, PhD, MSN, MPH, RN
University of Rhode Island
Collaboration focus: bicycle safety
dahianna_lopez@uri.edu

Kurt Michael, PhD, MA
Appalachia State University, JED Foundation
Collaboration focus: suicide prevention training
michaelkd@appstate.edu

Beth Molnar, ScD
Northeastern University
Collaboration focus: youth violence
b.molnar@neu.edu

Jon Moussally, MD, MPH
Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
Collaboration focus: motor vehicle safety
jmoussally@hsph.harvard.edu

Eliot Nelson, MD
University of Vermont
Collaboration focus: firearm issues
Eliot.Nelson@uvm.edu

David Perez-Esparza, PhD, MS
Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional
Collaboration focus: firearms in Mexico
David.perez.esparza@gmail.com

Elizabeth Walker Peterson, PhD, MPH
University Illinois at Chicago
Collaboration focus: falls
epeterso@uic.edu

Paul Reeping, PhD, MS
Columbia University
Collaboration focus: firearm issues
par517@mail.harvard.edu

Emily Rothman, ScD
Boston University School of Public Health.
Collaboration focus: intimate partner violence
erothman@bu.edu

Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, PhD, MD, MPH
University of Washington
Collaboration focus: firearm issues
rowhani@uw.edu

Fred Rivara
University of Washington
Collaboration focus: firearm issues.

Carol Runyan, PhD
University of North Carolina
Collaboration focus: suicide
Carol_Runayn@unc.edu

Carmel Salhi, ScD, MPH
Northeastern University
Collaboration focus: firearm issues.
c.salhi@northeastern.edu

Robert Sege, MD, PhD, FAAP
Tufts University
Collaboration focus: children & injuries
Robert.Sege@tuftsmedicine.org

Michael Siegel, MD, MPH
Tufts University
Collaboration focus: effect of firearm laws.
mike.siegel@tufts.edu

Joseph Simonetti, MD, MPH
University of Colorado School of Public Health
Collaboration focus: firearm suicide
joseph.simonetti@cuanschutz.edu

Morissa Sobelson-Henn, DrPH, MPH
New Hampshire Department of Public Health
Collaboration focus: working with gun groups
Morissa.S.Henn@dhhs.nh.gov

Sara Solnick, PhD
University of Vermont
Collaboration focus: unintentional injury, firearms
sara.solnick@uvm.edu

David I. Swedler, PhD, MPH
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Collaboration focus: police and guns
dswedler@gmail.com

Eugenio Weigend Vargas, PhD, MA
University of Michigan
Collaboration focus: sequelae of gun violence
eweigend@umich.edu

Jessica Wolfe, PhD, MPH
Cohen Veterans Bioscience
Collaboration focus: police homicide
jessicawolfe17@gmail.com

Ziming Xuan, ScD, SM
Boston University
Collaboration focus: laws and guns
zxuan@bu.edu

About the Center

The Harvard Injury Control Research Center (HICRC) works to reduce the societal burden of injury and violence through research, intervention, evaluation, outreach, and training.