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 |
| Jonathan Davis | Older adult injuries, focus on motor vehicle crashes and fall-related injuries; policy and program evaluation addressing robbery and work place violence prevention |
| Megan Gilster | Diversity and social justice, health, mental health, and disability, organizations and communities |
| Colette Galet | Burn injuries, traumatic brain injuries, opioid prescription practices, older adult injuries including frailty, fall, fall prevention, and identification of predictors of falls and fall injuries |
| Kari Harland | Teen driver crash prevention, family violence, work-related crashes |
| Chuck Jennissen | All-terrain vehicle injury prevention, pediatric emergency care |
| 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 |
| Elizabeth O’Neal | Unintentional injury prevention, evidence-based behavioral intervention, parent-child interaction, perceptual-motor skill, social and psychological determinants of health |
| Edith Parker | Global public health, community-based participatory research, health equity, environmental health interventions |
| Steve Spears | Travel behavior, physical activity, road safety, spatial analysis |
| Priyanka Vakkalanka | Suicide and substance use disorders |
| 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
Recommended Plan of Study for the Injury Epidemiology Research Interest Area PhD Elective Requirement
| course # | course name | s.h. | semester(s) offered* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Students interested in injury epidemiology will take the following two courses: | |||
| EPID:4510 | Injury and Violence Prevention | 3 s.h. | Fall |
| EPID:6510 | Injury Epidemiology | 3 s.h. | Spring even years * |
| In addition, students will choose at least 17 s.h. from the following recommended courses or courses approved by faculty in the Injury Epidemiology program. Students should select courses in consultation with their advisor to reflect their research interest area (e.g. unintentional injury and violence prevention, occupational and environmental epidemiology, program/intervention development and evaluation, pharmacoepidemiology, or behavioral health): | |||
| BIOS:5130 | Applied Categorical Data Analysis | 3 s.h. | Fall |
| CBH:5220 | Health Behavior and Health Education | 3 s.h. | Fall |
| CBH:5305 | Evaluation: Approaches and Applications | 3 s.h. | Fall |
| CBH:5310 | Qualitative Research for Public Health | 3 s.h. | Spring even years |
| CBH:6205 | Designing and Implementing Interventions | 3 s.h. | Fall |
| CBH: 5235 | Community-Based Participatory Research | 3 s.h. | Spring |
| EPID:5214 | Meta-Analysis of Epidemiologic Studies | 3 s.h. | Fall odd years beginning Fall 25 |
| EPID:6075 | Health Equity and Social Justice | 3 s.h. | Spring |
| EPID:6900 | Design of Intervention and Clinical Trials | 3 s.h. | Fall |
| EPID:6071 | Social Epidemiology | 3 s.h. | Fall |
| EPID:6420 | Survey Design and Analysis | 3 s.h. | Spring even years |
| EPID:6920 | Applied Administrative Data Analysis | 2 s.h. | Fall |
| OEH:4310 | Occupational Ergonomics: Principles | 3 s.h. | Fall |
| CPH:4220 | Global Road Safety | 3 s.h. | Spring |
| OEH:5410 | Occupational Safety | 3 s.h. | Spring even years |
| GEOG:4150 | Health and Environment: GIS Applications | 3 s.h. | Fall |
*Semester(s) offered subject to change due to enrollment, instructor availability, etc. Students should always check the course schedule at MyUI.uiowa.edu for the most up to date version of the course schedule.
Centers and Resources
Centers and Institutes
- University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center
- Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health
- Heartland Center for Occupational Health and Safety
- Institute for Clinical and Translational Science
- Institute of Public Health Research and Policy
- Driving Safety Research Institute
- University of Iowa Public Policy Center, Crime and Justice Policy Research Program
Research Resources
- HCUP
- 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
- Iowa Violent Death Reporting System (IAVDRS)
Professional Organizations
- American Public Health Association, Injury Control and Emergency Health Services section
- Society for the Advancement of Injury and Violence Research (SAVIR)
- Safe States Alliance
- Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals
- Transportation Research Board
Major Research Projects
Doctoral Student Profiles
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…