Injury Prevention Research Center

As a new year begins, we are especially thankful to our dedicated colleagues and partners throughout Iowa and around the world who are making our communities safer and saving lives – by conducting research, doing outreach work, or training the next generation of injury and violence prevention professionals. Here, we look back at some of…

On November 18th safety advocates at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City will be promoting injury prevention, including safer storage of guns, by handing out educational materials and encouraging safety items for sale (like gun locks) at the hospital’s Safety Store . In 2020, firearm-related injuries became the leading cause of…

Three new videos from the UI Injury Prevention Research Center highlight how the center’s pilot grant program has helped University of Iowa faculty and students grow injury & violence prevention (IVP) research. Examples include artificial intelligence (AI) to study older adult falls, bicycle and pedestrian behaviors in a virtual environment, and disaster preparedness in an…

Priyanka Vakkalanka is an assistant research scientist in the UI Department of Emergency Medicine who researches suicide and substance use disorders. Here, she talks about how Mobile Crisis Outreach (MCO) programs help those in a mental health crisis, how MCOs can benefit rural communities, and how innovative hospital-based units help provide immediate care.

Farming is vital to our society by providing food and raw materials, but comes with unique hazards that put farmers, their families, and farm workers at risk for injuries and death – both which are preventable.

Dr. Nick Mohr talks about how Emergency Department (ED) readiness affects children with traumatic injuries and how telemedicine networks between rural hospitals and telehealth providers are helping severely injured rural patients.

In 2017, Iowa passed a law [SB489] allowing the sale of fireworks in the state during specific time periods.  Since then, University of Iowa researchers have examined trends in emergency department visits to Iowa’s two largest trauma centers before and after implementation of the law (2014 – 2019).

Dr. Heather Olsen from the National Program for Playground Safety talks about common playground injuries, the effect of global warming on surfaces, and how to keep kids safe on playgrounds.

Since 2018, an undergraduate Certificate in Resilience and Trauma-Informed Perspectives has been preparing UI students of diverse majors of study to understand what trauma is and how it impacts the brain, behaviors, choices, actions, and health. Students pursuing this certificate also learn why it is essential to prevent trauma, help survivors learn to strengthen their…

UI researchers found that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in adulthood – even when these experiences are not recalled as adults. In addition, they found that jailtime, neighborhood crime, and social conditions – like decreases in income – accelerate the speed of aging in the human body.