Associate Professor Ali Rowhani-Rahbar (PhD, Epidemiology ’09) was selected for the Bartley Dobb Professorship for the Study and Prevention of Violence, effective July 1. The endowment funds an appointed UW faculty member for five years to study the prevention of violence through resolution of conflict.
Rowhani-Rahbar’s research includes studies on safe firearm storage, firearm access in relation to mental disorders and suicide risk, the well-being of gunshot wound victims, and the impacts of crime and trauma on health.
“This professorship catalyzes our scholarship to study violence and enables us to design and evaluate new violence prevention programs,” Rowhani-Rahbar said. “It provides invaluable support for our work to reduce the heavy burden of violence in our society.”
Rowhani-Rahbar is an associate professor of epidemiology with an adjunct appointment in pediatrics. He is also the Violence Prevention Section Lead at the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center.
“Through his years of research on the topic of gun violence, he is a unique visionary in the field,” said Stephen Hawes (MS, Biostatistics ‘93; PhD, Epidemiology ‘01), chair of the department of epidemiology. “Endowments such as these support the critical research of the department.”
The late Bartley Dobb was a longtime member of the UW community who first enrolled in 1942 and served the University for 41 years as a librarian.