GW Professor Takes Leading Role against Gun Violence with Landmark Public Health Initiative

September 9, 2024

Authored by:

Ruth Steinhardt

The United States loses tens of thousands of lives to gun violence every year, with thousands more injured. Surrounding each violent incident is a radius of collateral suffering: a lost family member, a paralyzing injury, an invisible but debilitating community trauma. In 2022, the most recent year for which Centers for Disease Control data is available, firearms killed about 132 people every day and were the leading cause of death for American children and teens aged one to 19. And the United States is one of just six countries accounting for two-thirds of gun deaths around the world, alongside Brazil, Colombia, India, Mexico and Venezuela.

Now, one of the world's premier medical journals will take on gun violence as a global public health challenge, with the George Washington University's Adnan A. Hyder at the helm. Hyder, who is senior associate dean for research and innovation and a professor of global health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, is co-chair of the Lancet Commission on Global Gun Violence and Health, launched Sept. 4.

"In recent times, public health experts, medical experts, social scientists and political scientists have been raising their voice that this status quo is both preventable and ethically unacceptable, and it is high time that we begin to confront it," Hyder said. "The Lancet is a mechanism for collecting and collating the best scientific evidence from around the world to bear on this particular issue. We think the time is now."

The new commission, co-chaired by Lorena Barberia of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, gathers over a dozen public health leaders from five continents and a variety of disciplines to explore the causes and consequences of gun violence worldwide.

"We hope that by bringing together many disciplines we can not only learn from each other but also develop new knowledge….and emerge with some possible solutions," Hyder said.

Gun violence is complex because it involves multiple stakeholders and multiple causative mechanisms across different sectors, Hyder said. Gun availability is one important determinant of violence, but so is the context in which a person wields it. Is there access to ammunition? What are the laws around gun violence in their community, and are those laws enforced? What socioeconomic and cultural factors might determine community and individual norms around firearms and violence? And after the trigger is pulled, what human and economic costs are incurred?

The commission will first review the available scientific evidence around these and many more questions regarding the causes, risks and consequences of gun violence. With this stable of data, they will examine next steps: Which interventions have worked to decrease firearm injury and death? Which have failed? And where are the gaps in understanding that need to be illuminated?

Hyder said he was "honored," both individually and on behalf of the university, to take a leading role in this trailblazing struggle against a complex and terrifying problem. Materials created by the Lancet commission are likely to be a bedrock resource for researchers worldwide, including at GW.

"GW is driven by its dual missions of education and research, and this commission cuts across both of them," Hyder said. "I truly hope that colleagues from around the university will have the opportunity to engage, learn from and look at the work of this commission in the years to come."

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