Frederick Rivara

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Degrees
MPH 1980, Health Services
Vice Chair and Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology

National thought leader on injury prevention and control

Fred is an international leader in the science of injury prevention and control, and his work has profoundly influenced multiple areas in this field. His research on the effectiveness of bicycle helmets led to the creation of community-based helmet campaigns that have spread throughout the U.S. and the world and saved countless lives from preventable head injuries. With one of our other 50 Changemakers, Arthur Kellerman, Fred was a key force in several high-profile studies in the early 1990s that laid out the risks of firearms in the home. This work ultimately prompted a push for federal restrictions on research into gun violence.

He is the director of a state-funded program at Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center, a center he founded, to study public policies and their effects on firearm deaths and injuries. His work and that of his mentees have helped shape local and national policy on measures to reduce the burden of trauma from multiple causes. Fred is well known as an outstanding mentor to young public health researchers passionate about preventing injuries.

Affiliations: Professor and Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, Department of Pediatrics, UW School of Medicine; Seattle Children's Hospital Guild Association Endowed Chair in Pediatric Health Outcomes Research; Adjunct Professor, Department of Epidemiology, UW School of Public Health; Director, Firearm Injury and Policy Research Program, Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center; Editor-in-Chief, JAMA Network Open

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