Research Interest Area: Injury Epidemiology

Students in the injury epidemiology interest area will have opportunities to collaborate and gain skills across many disciplines (e.g., medicine, engineering, psychology, urban planning, etc.) which will prepare them for careers in this growing field.

Overview

Injury and violence are the leading causes of death among young people between 1 and 44 years of age in the U.S. Unintentional injuries from motor vehicle crashes, falls, fires/burns, poisonings (primarily from prescription drug overdoses), and violence from homicides and suicides kill more young people each year than cancer, diabetes, heart disease and the flu.

This interest area will prepare you for jobs in a wide range of settings:

academia
local to international agencies
non-profits
industry

Students with a Master’s degree (MS or MPH) may go on to become a project coordinator, evaluator, or data manager and students earning PhDs may find careers as independent researchers or senior epidemiologists in a federal agency. To learn more about careers in injury and violence prevention, click here.

Students with the following topic interests are encouraged to explore this research interest area:

unintentional injury and violence prevention
occupational and environmental epidemiology
intervention and translational research
pharmacoepidemiology
behavioral health
rural acute care
road traffic safety
interpersonal violence
older adult falls
opioid overdose
traumatic brain injury
injury and trauma systems evaluation
global injury
sports injury
self-harm and suicide
adverse childhood experiences

Faculty

Faculty members primarily working in this area

James Torner	Traumatic brain injury, injury and trauma systems evaluation, rural acute care,
Cara Hamann	Road safety, vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, teen drivers, older drivers), global injury prevention, child passenger safety
Jonathan Platt	Suicide and suicidal behaviors, alcohol and substance use, child and adolescent health
Carri Casteel	Workplace violence prevention, occupational safety, older adult falls prevention, epidemiology of prescription drug overdoses

Collaborating faculty

Rima Afifi	adolescent and youth, refugees, mental health, community-based participatory research, intervention development and evaluation
Sato Ashida	aging, disaster preparedness, evaluation
Natoshia Askelson	Health policy and behavior change, family and child health, health communication, evaluation
Mark Berg	Criminology, social psychology, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), interpersonal conflicts
Timothy Brown	Driving safety, in-vehicle systems, warning systems, medical considerations in driving, driver performance
Ryan Carnahan	Pharmacoepidemiology, aging
Joe Cavanaugh	Model selection, time series analysis, modeling diagnostics
Kari Harland	Teen driver crash prevention, family violence, work-related crashes
Chuck Jennissen	All-terrain vehicle injury prevention, pediatric emergency care
Anton Kruger	Embedded systems and data collection device development
Michele Lilienthal	Traumatic injuries, burns, emergency management and treatment
Dan McGehee	Driver attention and response, crash avoidance, automation, traumatology
Nick Mohr	Emergency department telemedicine, time-to-care
Edith Parker	Global public health, community-based participatory research, health equity, environmental health interventions
Audrey Saftlas	Intimate partner violence and interventions
Steve Spears	Travel behavior, physical activity, road safety, spatial analysis
Kristel Wetjen	Pediatric traumatic and unintentional injury prevention, child passenger safety, toy safety, bicycling safety
Armeda Wojciak	Trauma-informed practices, parent-child relationships, at-risk youth, social and education policy
Rachel Young	Social media, user-generated digital content, cyberbullying, bystander intervention, interventions
Xun Zhou	Spatial and spatio-temporal data mining, big data analytics, geographic information systems, motor vehicle crashes

Curriculum

Featured Courses

EPID:4510 Injury and Violence Prevention
CPH:4220 Global Road Safety
EPID:6510 Injury Epidemiology

Learning Objectives

Students interested in injury epidemiology are preparing for a career in which they will:

Apply concepts of injury control and prevention to identify and prioritize injury problems and quantify and prioritize risk and protective factors in communities and high-risk populations,
Identify strategies to prevent injuries, and implement and evaluate injury prevention control measures and programs,
Apply epidemiologic methods in injury research and use statistical applications to analyze and interpret data,
Successfully compete for federal, state and foundation grants,
Participate in advocacy efforts for injury prevention research, funding and programs
Lead and manage large-scale etiologic, intervention, and translational research studies

Injury Epidemiology Curriculum

Centers and Resources

Centers and Institutes

Research Resources

IPRC Injury Data Library
HCUP
- National Inpatient Sample (NIS)
- National Emergency Department Sample (NEDS)
IPRC Expert Research Teams: rural acute care, road traffic safety, interpersonal violence, opioid overdose, older adult falls, and intervention & translational research
Datalys Sports Injury Database

Professional Organizations

Major Research Projects

See our major research projects at the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center

Doctoral Student Profiles

Meet some of our doctoral students

Funding Opportunities

Students affiliated with the UI IPRC receive financial support through training and research grants. Funding assistance strengthens our ability to support students interested in conducting research in injury and violence prevention. Learn more about these opportunities…