February 13, 2008 - Congressional Staff Briefing Information for SAVIR Members!

October 2007 - SAVIR's First Research Conference

SAVIR’s first national research conference was held in Columbus, Ohio on October 10 & 11, 2007. The Conference, in collaboration with the Columbus Children's Hospital Center for Injury Research and Policy, was organized around national speakers covering the areas of of qualitative, quantitative, and translational research. In addition there was a Pre-Conference Workshop. "Show Me The Money; Strategies For Getting Your Proposal Funded."

• Download the Conference Brochure (PDF)
• Detailed Conference Agenda (PDF)

Conference Objectives

• Identify and evaluate recent injury & violence research findings in the areas of qualitative, quantitative, and translational research
• Organize across disciplines to address the unique challenges faced by researchers and public health professionals in injury and violence prevention  
• Recognize and potentially solve methodological issues encountered in injury and violence research  

Keynote Presentations:

Wed Oct 10

8:15 -930 AM Welcome and Keynote Speaker – Roger Johansson, PhD Vision Zero – Evidence-based Eradication of Severe Traffic Injuries
9:30 – 10:30 AM Shannon Frattaroli, PhD, MPH Warning -- Do Not Attempt to Count these Data: Using Qualitative Methods in Injury Prevention Research
1:30 – 2:30 PM Steve Marshall, PhD Quantitative Methods in Injury Research: A Cautionary Tale
7:30 – 8:30 PM Linda Degutis, DrPH, MSN From Injury Research to Practice and Policy: How Can We Make a Difference?

Th Oct 11

8:30 – 9:30 AM David A. Sleet, PhD, FAAHB Lost in Translation? CDC's Approach to Dissemination & Implementation Research

September, 2007 - SAVIR signs memo of understanding with the National Safety Council

SAVIR and the National Safety Council have finalized a joint memo of understanding (MOU); "It is agreed that both NSC and SAVIR, consistent with their respective missions, will cooperate, collaborate, share information, and communicate in areas of mutual interest in order to strive for continued progress in preventing and mitigati ng loss and suffering from injuries."  The purposes of this agreement are to delineate a framework of cooperation between NSC and SAVIR, and outline guidelines that will govern interactions between the two organizations. Examples of cooperation included under this agreement include swapping memberships, placing two technical advisors to represent SAVIR on NSC’s Research Advisory Committee, nominating SAVIR members for consideration as reviewers for NSC's Journal of Safety Research, and exploring how to work together in each others research conference activities. The Journal of Safety Research (JSR), an international, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal published five times per year. The JSR is an interdisciplinary publication that provides for the exchange of ideas and data developed through research experience in all areas of safety: traffic, industry, farm, home, school and public health. 

April 26th, 2007 - SAVIR Co-sponsored International Webinars on Road Safety Research

As part of Road Traffic Safety Week, the Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR), the University of Pittsburgh Center for Injury Research and Control (CIRCL), Make Roads Safe and other collaborators, co-sponsored a one day set of international webinars presenting contemporary examples of student research on traffic and motorcycle injuries from 4 different countries. The purpose is to highlight the role of research in global road traffic safety. Each researcher presented a 15 min overview of the nature of their work, the current status of their project and preliminary results, with follow-up discussion.

• Epidemiology of Road Traffic Crashes in Vojvodina, Serbia: Predrag Duric MD, PhD, Institute of Public Health Vojvodina, Epidemiological Department
• Epidemiological Trends of Traffic Deaths in Cali, Colombia: Evaluation of public policies: Alvaro Sanchez, MD
• Motorcycle helmet research in Vietnam: Dang Viet Hung MD, MPH
• Motorcycle injury prevention research in Malaysia: Nhan Tran, MHS

To view these recorded webinars please go to the CIRCL past-seminar web page.

February, 2007 - Official Journal

February 12, 2007 - SAVIR is proud to announce that our official Journal is now Injury Prevention. Please visit the Injury Prevention website to read the editorials or click here for the PDF file pertaining to this exciting announcement. SAVIR Members will receive Journal discounts upon the next cycle of dues payments in the Spring. In addition, we have added two of our distinguished members to the IP editorial board; Dr's. Corinne Peek-Asa and James Helmkamp.

Presidents Corner - February, 2007 (PDF)

SAVIR Member News Update - December, 2006

January, 2007 - Administrative Transition

SAVIR has benefited greatly from the thoughtful and energetic leadership of Bill O'Connell as our first Executive Director. However, Bill has assumed a new position as Director of Government Affairs with the National Safety Council as of the close of 2006. He may be reached at: 1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC, 20036; 202/974-2466; oconnell@nsc.org. We will miss you Bill and thank you warmly for your dedicated service to SAVIR. However, while he may have left SAVIR, he is certainly not forgotten nor without positive influence on our direction. Even in his new position he has already facilitated important dialog between his former and new employers that should lead to important benefits for both organizations.

In the meanwhile, SAVIR's Board and Executive Committee have focused on reorganizing SAVIR so we can continue to grow, but do it in a way that involves more member-driven effort and a lower overhead. To help with administrative tasks, SAVIR has hired Julie Gibbs-Long at 15 hours/week to act as the SAVIR Administrator. Julie comes to us with a great deal of knowledge of SAVIR's inner workings and has been a great help through this transition period. Additional staff resources will be supplemented by part-time administrative personnel.

October, 2006 - Members in the News

Susan P. Baker Awarded Inaugural SAVIR Champions Award

Susan P. Baker, MPH, professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, received the Champions Award from SAVIR. Baker was recognized as the inaugural recipient for successfully promoting the field of injury and violence prevention. The award was presented at the awards banquet of the Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section of the American Public Health Association on Nov. 7 in Boston, Massachusetts.

An epidemiologist specializing in injury prevention, Baker was the first director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. Her research focuses on aviation safety, teenage drivers and investigations of motor vehicle occupant and pedestrian deaths among children and adults. She has also studied crashes of motorcycles and heavy trucks, carbon monoxide poisoning, drowning, childhood asphyxiation, house fires, falls in the elderly, homicide, suicide and fatal occupational injuries.

Baker is an ardent advocate of policy changes that will prevent injuries. Much of her teaching and research is designed to influence the legislators, administrators, media representatives and others whose decisions can determine the likelihood of injury for thousands of people.

In his award presentation, Hank Weiss, PhD, MPH, president-elect of SAVIR, said that Baker’s “accomplishments…stem from a career that encompasses four decades, bridges two centuries, includes 176 journal articles, four books, 22 monographs, 15 book chapters and numerous awards and leadership positions at key times and key places. It is a legacy that has touched and enriches us all.”

October, 2006 - SAVIR Annual Meeting