The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has established the only Injury Control Research Center in Texas at UTHealth Houston, in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine.
“I’m beyond thrilled to bring an Injury Control Research Center to Texas,” said Jeff Temple, PhD, director of the new center and associate dean for clinical research at UTHealth Houston School of Behavioral Health Sciences. “This collaboration between the community, policymakers, UTHealth Houston, and Baylor College of Medicine will undoubtedly save lives.”
An Injury Control Research Center (ICRC) focuses on studying injury and violence prevention to create solutions that can be implemented in real-world scenarios. The first-year grant amount is $850,000 with an anticipated total of $4.25 million over five years.
“The center will be transformative,” said Christopher Spencer Greeley, MD, professor of pediatrics at Baylor and chief in the section of public health pediatrics at Texas Children’s Hospital. “It leverages long-term collaborations between two leading research and service organizations to substantively address profound challenges impacting children and families.”
Named the Violence and Injury Prevention Research (VIPR) Center, this facility is the first ICRC in the Southwest United States. Its location is considered ideal for testing potential statewide and national impacts.
“We’ll work collaboratively with the community to evaluate novel interventions and improve existing programs,” said Temple, who also holds a professorship as Betty and Rose Pfefferbaum Chair in Child Mass Trauma and Resilience at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. “We’ll also train community members and other professionals on best practices related to violence and injury prevention. Finally, we’ll work directly with policymakers to make sure our work is beneficial and enduring to the public.”
The center's focus areas include preventing adverse childhood experiences, community violence across lifespans, suicide prevention, and firearm violence.
“Over time, we will bolster our efforts to prevent and reduce the burden of unintentional injuries like car crashes and drownings,” Temple added.
“We are excited to join the strong network of ICRCs around the nation,” said Mary Aitken, MD, MPH, professor and Dan L Duncan Distinguished University Chair of Pediatrics at McGovern Medical School. “The work of these centers is critical to help prevent injury-related suffering and death; our new center will bring a much-needed focus on this issue for Texas.”
Melissa Peskin, PhD., professor and vice chair of health promotion & behavioral sciences at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health as well as assistant dean of Students there serves as co-director alongside Greeley from Baylor College.
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