Public Health
Injury Prevention
Hospital-based Medicine
Cross-Disciplinary Pathway
Advocacy Pathway
Alexander Hogan, MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Connecticut Children's Medical Center
Avon, Connecticut, United States
Alyssa Silver, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Pediatrics
Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, NY, United States
This video is unavailable at the request of one or more presenters.
One third of United States children live in a home with a gun. Easy access to firearms leads to hundreds of intentional and unintentional pediatric deaths annually and has resulted in the United States being the world leader in pediatric firearm mortality. As the death toll mounts, and mass shootings become sadly commonplace, a groundswell of activism to change gun laws led by grassroots groups has erupted. Unfortunately, policies advocated for rarely have a strong evidence base as research into the causes and solutions to gun violence have been hamstrung by federal policy. Gun violence is a public health crisis finally beginning to get the attention it deserves.
The response to this crisis has been multifaceted. Parents and children directly affected by mass shootings have founded and championed grassroots movements to change gun culture and legislative policy. Physician scientists have begun to determine the efficacy of legislative policy reducing firearm morbidity and mortality to inform the legislators on Capitol Hill to reduce pediatric morality. This cross-disciplinary plenary will address how patient advocates, researchers, and legislators can work together to enact evidenced based legislation to keep children out of the line of fire.
The plenary speakers will consist of 1) a gun violence survivor 2) a health services researcher expert in firearm legislation efficacy, 3) a leader of a grassroots firearm violence reduction group, and 4) a US Senator expert in firearm legislation.
Timing: 90 minutes total
5 min: Drs. Hogan and Silver--Introduction
15 min: Julvonnia McDowell--Mother of child killed by an unsecured firearm
20 min: Rebecca Cunningham, MD--Vice President of Research at the University of Michigan, Principle Investigator of the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens Consortium.
20 min: Shannon Watts (Invited)--Founder of Moms Demand Action the largest grassroots organization in the United States dedicated to reducing gun violence.
20 min: The Honorable Christopher Murphy, United States Senate (Invited)--Senator Murphy is leading voice in the United States Senate for firearm legislation. He has sponsored numerous bills supporting gun violence reduction strategies, increasing funding for the CDC and NIH, and this year published a new book on the gun violence epidemic: The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy.
10 min: Drs. Hogan and Silver moderating--Question and answer session
Presenter: Alexander H. Hogan, MD, MS – Connecticut Children's Medical Center
Presenter: Julvonnia McDowell – Moms Demand Action & Everytown Survivor Network
Presenter: Rebecca Cunningham, MD – University of Michigan
Presenter: Shannon Watts – Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America
Presenter: Richard Blumenthal
Presenter: Alyssa H. Silver, MD – Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
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