Injury Prevention Research Center

In 2005 over 40% of the people evacuated from devastating Hurricane Katrina floods had at least one chronic health condition, like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, which required them to take medication.  Having these medications on hand is critical during and after disasters while those who depend on them wait for help to arrive. UI…

According to the CDC, every 20 minutes an older adult dies from a fall in the U.S, and many more are injured.  Falls among older adults are not only common and costly – they are preventable. The UI IPRC is very active in older adult falls prevention efforts in Iowa and nationally. With its partner,…

For the last 15 years, the UI IPRC has been fortunate to co-sponsor the annual Iowa Preventing Childhood Injury Conference.  Along with our partners — Blank Children’s Hospital, UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital, EMC Insurance Companies, the Iowa Department of Public Health, and SafeKids Iowa – we have brought childhood injury advocates across the state…

It’s a common sight to see Professor Joe Cavanaugh sitting around a table with UI IPRC faculty, students and collaborators as he consults with them on their study designs, analytic approaches and methodological interests. As UI IPRC’s longstanding biostatistician, he has worked on projects and data involving numerous injury issues—from childhood trauma and intimate partner…

Over two decades ago, Iowa created an organized system of transporting and treating patients with traumatic injuries—where time is crucial to save lives. The Iowa Trauma System became operational in 2001 and included standards for trauma care, protocols for triage and transfer, and categorized Iowa’s hospitals based on their trauma resources (Level 1 being the…

Over two decades ago, UI Professors Jodie Plumert and Joe Kearney collaborated to establish a virtual environments lab to study how children and adult bicyclists cross roads.  Their equipment was simpler back then —a stationary bicycle mounted in front of three large computer monitors with simulation software. When they upgraded to three large display screens—each…

With only 10 injury control research centers (ICRCs) in the U.S. funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we are lucky to have one of them here in our state at the University of Iowa.  ICRCs train the next generation of injury and violence researchers and professionals with the benefit of CDC expertise…

A new UI IPRC report helps us understand for the first time how bicycle safety is being taught in the U.S. in a climate where there are no gold standards for bicycle education programs. The report creates an inventory of child bicycle education curricula so that educators can look for best practices and age-appropriate lessons…

On February 27, more than 100 state legislators and staff gathered for a congressional briefing in DC to learn how a network of 10 Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCS) are tackling the nation’s deadliest drug epidemic. The briefing, Addressing the Opioid Epidemic: Leveraging Partnerships, Research and Practice, was co-hosted by CDC-funded ICRCs and Representatives John…

When Romanian student Diana Dulf took the course Injury and Violence Prevention taught by UI IPRC’s Professor Corinne Peek-Asa, she became interested in the injury field and found her focus of research.  That was 2009. Fast forward: Dulf is now Assistant Professor at the Cluj School of Public Health at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania…