Violence and Injury Epidemiology

The violence and injury epidemiology unit aims to improve population health by reducing the morbidity and mortality from unintentional and intentional injuries.

One of the eight administrative and intellectual core organizing units in the Department of Epidemiology, the violence and injury unit was catalyzed by the launch of the Columbia Center for Injury Science and Prevention in 2012 and was renewed again in 2024, one of nine injury control research centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The unit brings together a group of faculty with diverse expertise in epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy, engineering, emergency medicine, pediatrics, surgery, rehabilitation, and geriatrics to address unintentional and intentional injuries across the life span.

The objectives of the violence and injury unit are to integrate expertise and other resources across academic divisions, facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration, forge diverse partnerships, and accelerate the advancement of science and the translation of scientific discoveries to reduce the incidence and severity of injury at the community, regional, state and national levels.

The unit sponsors an annual conference on translating violence and injury research into effective prevention, a new peer-reviewed open access journal, Injury Epidemiology, in partnership with Springer Science and Business Media, and a certificate in injury prevention and control for MPH students. The unit also hosts a monthly unit seminar or panel to advance the scientific discourse on contemporary topics related to injury research and prevention that provides a forum for crosspollination of ideas and programs between local professionals and academicians.

Selected Projects

Longitudinal Research on Older Adult Drivers

Data from this cohort study allows researchers to better understand the role of physical and cognitive functions, medical conditions, medications, and vehicle technologies in driving safety.

School Violence, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Youth Mental Health/Well-being

This work explores the relationship between student exposure to school gun violence and various forms of school security strategies and their impact on youth mental health and other child health outcomes.

Impacts of Ridesharing on Motor Vehicle Crashes, Alcohol-Related Morbidity, and Assault

This research examines how ridesharing services, such as Uber and Lyft, affect the occurrence of injuries within US cities. Using data for individual rideshare trips for NYC and Chicago, the research team found that ridesharing was associated with reductions in alcohol-impaired driving, but also with increases in assaults at bars and pedestrian crashes.

Physical Environmental Interventions to Reduce Road Traffic Crash Risks and Health Inequities for Vulnerable Road Users

Vision Zero policies have been implemented in cities around the US with the goal to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries due to road traffic crashes. This research will evaluate the impact of Vision Zero initiatives in New York City, identifying low-cost solutions to improve roadway safety and encourage active mobility.

The impact of structural environmental racism on ACEs and injury outcomes in marginalized communities

The goal of this study is to assess how early exposure to structural environmental racism is linked to ACEs and late-life injury in US older adults racialized as Indigenous, Black, Asian, and Latino.

Forecasting emerging racial inequities in US injury epidemics: Identifying the causes and predictors of changing racial patterns in urban overdose and suicide.

The objective of this project is to innovatively advance scientific understanding of the social and structural determinants of drug overdose and suicide epidemics in urban US areas to inform public health intervention efforts.

Using data science and causal inference to estimate community-level impact of policing on injuries and adverse childhood experiences.

Addressing this evidence gap is urgently needed to meaningfully reduce rates of police violence exposure and its negative impacts among children. This project will contribute to the CDC’s NCIPC Director’s Priority on ACEs and the NCIPC’s crosscutting violence prevention priority by providing novel data linkage.

Affiliated Centers and Programs

Training Opportunities

The Injury and Violence Prevention Certificate within the MPH program

This Certificate, which is led by Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena, will enable students to develop a working knowledge of the determinants of injury; understand and apply key theoretical approaches including the framing of injury from a health equity perspective; identify measures, data sources, and issues in the measurement of major injury outcomes; and learn how to conduct injury surveillance. Students will also apply general epidemiologic and specific injury analytical methods in the design and evaluation of injury studies and evaluate injury reduction initiatives, taking into consideration laws, policies, program evaluations, and cost-effectiveness analyses.

This certificate program is housed within the Columbia Center for Injury Science and Prevention – a CDC funded Injury Research Center that is a university wide effort including the partnership of the Mailman School of Public Health with Teachers College, the Schools of Medicine, Law, Social Work, Journalism and Nursing.

Unit Faculty

For more information about the violence and injury epidemiology unit contact Dr. Thelma Mielenz