July 2024 | Issue 66

THIS MONTH IN INJURY SCIENCE AT PENN

Safe Path milestone, Distinguished Lecture recording, and an opioid crisis innovation challenge...
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FEATURED

Celebrating a Safe Path to school

This year, the Penn Injury Science Center partnered with The School District of Philadelphia's Office of School Safety to expand the Safe Path program, which puts a trusted adult presence along walking routes so students can get to and from school safely. The program contracts with local community-based organizations to coordinate staff and volunteers to serve as the Safe Path monitors, who implement evidence-based violence prevention and refer students and families to relevant support services and resources.
Building upon the success of the Institute for the Development of African American Youth (IDAAY), the contractor that launched the program in the 2022-2023 school year, Dr. Bernadette Hohl led a successful application for Violence Intervention & Prevention (VIP) funding from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) to expand the program to nine additional schools in this past 2023-2024 school year.
A year-end cookout for all community, government, and academic partners celebrated this milestone of the program, which is modeled after an evidence-based program in Chicago that resulted in a 14% decrease in violence.
Awards, dancing, good food, and good vibes filled Fairmount Park to acknowledge everyone working hard to keep Philly students safe and in school.
Dr. Bernadette Hohl and Yusang (Kevin) Jung pictured at the June 2024 Safe Path cookout.
The Safe Path program is part of the Community Violence Intervention Hub at the Penn Injury Science Center, a leading group of Penn clinicians, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and activists who have come together to address the three levels of violence prevention: "Stop It. Fix It. Live On."
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UPCOMING EVENTS

July 9 @ 3:00 pm Eastern

Gun Violence Prevention Webinar Series

Virtual

The National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research is hosting a series of public webinars highlighting recent insights into gun violence prevention. Leading researchers supported by the collaborative discuss these findings and their policy implications. Webinars are moderated by NCGVR director Andrew Morral.

Click here to register for the webinar series:
  • July 9, 2024: Community Firearm Violence Exposure and Weapon Carrying
  • Oct 8, 2024: New Findings on Firearms Violence in the U.S.
Recordings of past webinars can be viewed here.

July 11 @ 12:00 - 12:30 pm (Eastern)

Advanced Content Creation Webinars

Virtual

The Center for Injury Research Translation and Communication at Nationwide Children’s Hospital presents the Share-My-Screen Series on Advanced Content Creation! In this round of live skill-building webinars, we’ll share our screens to demonstrate how we use ChatGPT and Canva to create polished, audience-friendly content for visuals and presentations.

July 11: ChatGPT for content creation
Aug 22: Advanced Canva design tools
Sept 12: Resizing visuals, optimizing file sizes and exporting visuals

Click here to learn more and register
July 17 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am (Eastern)

Safer Prescribing Series

Virtual

The University of Michigan's Injury Prevention Center presents "Equity in Pain Management and Access to SUD treatment". Through a comprehensive lens, we will explore key themes shaping the state’s substance use landscape, focusing on data, resources, and practical strategies for fostering equitable care.

Click here to learn more and register

July 24 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm (Eastern)

IPRCE Distinguished Lecture

Hybrid

The Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory (IPRCE) invites you to their Distinguished Lecture Series with Dr. André Faro, a health psychology expert from the Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil. Dr. Faro’s research has focused on integrating public health, mental health, and cultural influences to better understand and enhance well-being and health outcomes, concerning stress, suicide, and quality of life.

Click here to register
August 20-22

Safe States 2024

Portland, Oregon

Hundreds of professionals and advocates from state, local, and tribal health, hospitals and healthcare, research and academia, community-based organizations, and the federal government come together to share best practices and innovative solutions, discuss emerging issues and new research, and hone their competencies in injury and violence prevention.

Click here to learn more and register
December 9-11

National Research Conference for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms

Seattle, Washington

The 2024 National Research Conference for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms aims to bring attention and focus to the current state of the science and research on firearm related harms across the lifespan.

The call for abstracts is now open for oral and poster submissions on research encompassing all aspects of firearm-related harms. Oral and Poster submissions are due by Monday July 22, 2024 11:59pm ET.

Click here to learn more and submit

LATEST IN RESEARCH & NEWS

Practitioner of the Year

Joel Fein was honored by the Philadelphia County Medical Society with its Practitioner of the Year Award, which is presented to a member physician who has distinguished themselves by providing patient care and community service with compassion and dedication.

Mobile Overdose Response Program

Maggie Lowenstein led a study evaluating a mobile overdose response program and found that a predictor of effective care linkage was referral to brick-and-mortar clinics staffed by mobile unit physicians.

Characteristics of Pediatric Concussion

A team including Kate McDonald and Kristy Arbogast assessed characteristics of pediatric concussions across different mechanisms of injury in children aged 5 to 12.

Traumatic Immigration Experiences

Laura Vargas, Terry Richmond, and colleagues conducted a study to compare differences in traumatic exposure by sex and place of occurrence among recently arrived Latin American immigrants.

Operation Hug the Block

The executive director of PHILLY TRUCE, a community partner of the Community Violence Intervention Hub, wrote an op-ed on their program's success in reducing gun violence and the lack of recognition and support that is all too common for community-based organizations.

Unprepared Drivers

Dan Romer and Liz Walshe were featured in Penn Today for a recent publication about the variation in state requirements for young driver training and the potential need for clinicians to advise parents to have their children trained beyond the minimum requirements.

Nominate an Outstanding Firearm Injury Paper

The Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms and the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research (NCGVR) are pleased to accept nominations for the first annual Greenwald Family Award for Firearm Violence and Injury Prevention Research Excellence. Papers must significantly advance understanding of firearm-related harms and show evidence of or potential for improving policies or programs.
You can't nominate a paper on which you are a co-author, but the Penn Injury Science Center may be able to nominate you! Contact us and share a link to your eligible article.

Submit to Special Issue on Gun Violence Prevention

Inquiry is accepting submissions to a special issue devoted to improving the evidence base for gun violence prevention strategies designed to operate at the neighborhood and community level. This will be a true or “gold” open-access issue that involves author fees, but some funding is available to help authors cover the fee, and we hope that makes it possible to support young scholars, post-docs, doctoral students, etc.

RESOURCES

Traffic Safety Dashboard

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Integrated Data and the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety (HTS) introduce njsho.chop.edu, a public-facing website that features an interactive data dashboard that enables users to visualize, monitor, and track important traffic safety measures across communities and over time to reduce injuries and fatalities on NJ roadways.

Bike Safety Toolkit

With the proper gear, respect for the rules, and smart choices about when and where they ride, you can set your kids up to have fun and stay safer out on their bikes.

Guide for Citing PISC Funding

Have you received funding support or infrastructure support from the Penn Injury Science Center? If yes, the CDC funding needs to be acknowledged! Refer to this guide to know when and how you should cite the PISC R49 Center grant (R49CE003083).

Professional Photo Booth

Co-sponsored by Graduate and Professional Student Assembly and the Undergraduate Assembly, the photo booth is open during regular Career Services business hours, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Located in the Career Services office, the first come, first serve photo booth — called the Iris Booth — can be used by Penn undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, alumni, faculty, and staff for high-quality headshots.
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Statistical Consultation

With our commitment to develop future generations of injury scientists across disciplines, the Penn Injury Science Center (PISC) provides statistics support for projects that are focused on the core mission of PISC and for which extramural resources are not currently available. Postdocs, clinical fellows, and early stage faculty that are affiliated with PISC are eligible for this benefit. This program offers statistical consultation through the BECCA Lab (Biostatistics, Evaluation, Collaboration, Consultation, and Analysis) at Penn Nursing. This could be a one-time consultation for a specific question or a series of meetings to support a project. See document linked above for more information.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Research Assistant, Minds Matter
The Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) is seeking a Part-Time Research Assistant to support translational research in concussion care. An in-person schedule with the ability to travel locally between ED clinic and community sites on weekends and/or weekday afternoons to evening hours (times negotiable) to leverage research recruitment success across projects. This individual will provide operational support to research projects within the Minds Matter Concussion Program.

Click here to learn more and apply
Project Assistants, School Safety
The Office of School Safety has established a special initiative to address youth violence and gang involvement in and around schools – the Youth Violence Reduction Initiative (YVRI). YVRI is an implementation of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Comprehensive Gang Model in a school setting. YVRI seeks to prevent and address youth violence and gang involvement among students enrolled in the School District of Philadelphia.

2 Project Assistants will work at John Bartram High School and 2 Project Assistants will work at Overbrook High School. If you have questions about the position, please contact Dr. Brandy Blasko by email at bblasko@philasd.org.

Click here to learn more and apply
Communications Director, Center for Health Justice
The Communications Director is a unique opportunity to help devise and execute a comprehensive communications strategy that promotes the vision, builds the reputation, and expands the impact of the newly formed Center for Health Justice (CHJ), whose vision is to achieve health through racial, economic, and environmental justice for Black, Brown, and other people and neighborhoods harmed by structural inequities. The Center sits within the Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation (CHTI) and has two focus areas – transformation of health systems operations (Health Justice Transformation) and rigorous research and community action (Urban Health Lab).
Learn more and apply here.
Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics Faculty Positions
The Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine brings together experts in three basic sciences to generate knowledge that improves health for all by formulating important research questions; producing and deciphering biomedical and population-health data; and developing, applying, and teaching state-of-the-art research methods.

There are open faculty positions within each discipline. Click here to learn more.
national health corps philadelphia
Community Health Fellowships
National Health Corps: Community Health Fellowship (NHC: CHF), Greater Philadelphia is a community health service program that trains local residents as Community Health Workers (CHWs) committed to addressing the unmet needs of underserved populations while creating pathways to quality public health careers for individuals who reflect the communities they serve.
Our program partners with non-profit organizations (called host sites) to place NHC members in Community Health Worker, Digital Health Navigator, and Medical Interpreter roles that support organizational capacities to address health inequities.

Current NHC: CHF member positions include:
Contact Kiera Kenney, NHC: CHF Program Director for more information! KKenney@healthfederation.org, 215-567-8005
DataLab CoLab Coordinator
DATA Co-Lab is a data-informed community engagement initiative hosted by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office in the District Attorney’s Transparency Analytics (DATA) Lab and is funded by Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency “PCCD”. This initiative fosters partnerships between the DATA Lab and community-based organizations by hosting monthly workshops to provide data tools and engage in participatory research exercises. The main priorities of the DATA Co-Lab are: 1) to enhance the community partners’ capacity to use data to inform programming and advocacy efforts within their communities and 2) to elevate the experiences of community stakeholders and needs of various communities to inform DAO data analysis and data-driven policymaking. This project is intended to be place-based and community-driven.

The project is hiring for DataLab CoLab Coordinator

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Opioid Crisis Innovation Challenge

The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) aims to convene and support partners advancing patient-centered, innovative, evidence-based solutions impacting people experiencing opioid use disorder (OUD), their families, and their communities. FORE has released a request for proposals for its Opioid Crisis Innovation Challenge 2024, through which the organization will provide grant support for specific projects that bring an innovative approach to long-standing and complex issues related to all aspects of stemming the tide of the nation’s opioid crisis.

Applicants may apply for a grant of up to $300,000 a year for up to two years. To be eligible, applicants must be U.S.-based public charities that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or nonprofit, tax-exempt universities. The foundation will also consider grant requests from state, local, and Native American tribal government units or agencies for specific charitable projects. Concept notes are due August 8, 2024, at 11:59 a.m. ET. Upon review selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal.

Click here to learn more and apply

Firearm Injury Prevention in Community Healthcare Settings (R01)

The purpose of this initiative is to advance research that reduces firearm injury and disparities through the development and evaluation of firearm injury primary prevention interventions leveraging community healthcare settings. Projects that include translation into routine practice are also invited. Following the public health model from the 2019 Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention, primary prevention refers to events happening prior to discharge of a firearm, such as safe firearm storage and handling, safety training, screening, community-building and investment, and programs addressing social determinants of health or unmet social needs. Prevention interventions at multiple levels are needed to address firearm morbidity and mortality due to both intentional injury (including suicide) and unintentional injury. Under this initiative, NINR is interested in novel and creative approaches to firearm injury prevention that capitalize on community healthcare settings, to identify risk factors; reduce exposure risk in individuals, families, and populations; prevent injury or reoccurrence of injury; and mitigate disparities.

Click here to learn more and apply by July 26

Multi-Sectoral Preventive Interventions

The Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) and participating National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutes, Centers, and Offices have announced the following notices of funding opportunities for the Multi-Sectoral Preventive Interventions Research Network, APPLY BY AUGUST 5:


  • PAR-24-053: Multi-sectoral preventive interventions that address social determinants of health in populations that experience health disparities (UG3/UH3, Clinical Trial Required)
  • RFA-OD-24-006: Coordinating Center to Support Multi-Sectoral Preventive Interventions that Address Social Determinants of Health in Populations that Experience Health Disparities (U24, Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

SHARING SCIENCE

Gun Violence & Public Health in the US

The recording from the Penn Injury Distinguished Lecture Series, with Dr. Dan Semenza, and co-hosted with the Crime and Justice Policy Lab, is now available to watch on YouTube.
"Science isn't finished until it's communicated"
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About Us

The Penn Injury Science Center is funded by a grant from the CDC and brings together university, community, and government partners around injury and violence intervention programs with the greatest potential for impact. We promote and perform the highest quality research, training and translation of scientific discoveries into practice and policy in order to reduce injuries, violence, and their impact to our region, the US, and locations around the world.
Question, Comments, or Suggestions?

Email andrew.belfiglio@pennmedicine.upenn.edu about any concerns or content you’d like to see in the next newsletter.