Keep AHead Program

The Keep AHead program kicked off at Super Bowl XXVIII held in Atlanta, GA. In partnership with Safe Kids Georgia and the Georgia Department of Human Resources, the ECIC co-sponsored a comprehensive statewide bicycle safety program.  In conjunction with the Super Bowl, three events were held in Atlanta to promote helmet use for children: Super Bowl Student Champions Breakfast, Coca-Cola Block & Tackle Party, and Team Georgia at the Dome. The goals of the program were to increase awareness of head injury issues and the value of bicycle helmets, create a positive environment that encourages bicycle helmet use, provide helmets to targeted groups of children, and provide support for the Safe Kids helmet initiatives throughout Georgia and the new state law requiring bicycle helmet use by children.

WHO & PAHO Collaborating Center

The ECIC was officially designated a World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating center and a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) collaborating center. With this designation ECIC became a key partner for strategic planning, advocacy and implementation of injury prevention activities and supports the global efforts of WHO and PAHO, as well as other collaborating centers.

"Cops and Docs"

The Georgia Firearm Notification System "Cops and Docs" was established through a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) grant awarded to ECIC. This system linked data from 34 law enforcement agencies, 21 emergency medical centers, and 5 medical examiners in the Metro Atlanta area. The data was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation which sent it to ECIC for analysis of victim characteristics, location of incident, type of weapon, and circumstance. ECIC researchers compared this data to firearm-related data to produce reports showing trends of gun violence activity.

Community-level Firearm Injury Surveillance: Local Data for Local Action  

Community Problem Solving in Atlanta  

Child Fatality Review

In 1990 Georgia became the first state to adopt a law requiring a statewide review of child deaths. This arose from media attention to several cases of abuse and neglect that were written off as natural causes. Several years later Dr. Kellermann formally evaluated the child fatality review process, "The Best of Intentions: An Evaluation of the Child Fatality Review Process in Georgia". This evaluation found that the review process uncovered patterns in child deaths but some counties failed to take the law seriously and no meaningful policies had been changed in response to the review panel's work. Dr. Kellermann strongly believed the child fatality review was worth preserving and offered several recommendations to the state legislature for improvement, including: funding for local review teams, training for law enforcement and first responders, and broadening the mission of the fatality review to include studying all preventable causes of child deaths.
The Best of Intentions: An Evaluation of the Child Fatality Review Process in Georgia

TADRA

Georgia's Teenage & Adult Driver Responsibility Act (TADRA) is a graduated driver's license program for young drives ages 15 - 18 that was established in 1997 in the wake of a rising number of fatal motor vehicle crashes. In 2004, ECIC researchers evaluated the long-term impact of this law on teen driving statewide to determine if there was any change in fatal crash rates due to the law or societal changes. Findings from the evaluation showed that TADRA had a dramatic impact on young drivers; lowering the rate of fatal crashes by 36.8% for 16 year olds, and alcohol-related crashes involving 16 year olds declined by 62%. In addition, the group of teens who learned to drive under TADRA had a fatal crash rate 38% lower than their peers who learned to drive before 1997.
Impact of Georgia's Teenage and Adult Driver Responsibility Act

NIH Fogarty Grant

The ECIC and Emory's Department of Emergency Medicine was awarded the NIH Fogarty Training Grant to provide injury-focused public health training and mentorship to physicians from the Republic of Mozambique.

Summer Scholarship Program

In 2008 ECIC began the Summer Student Scholarship Program, supporting graduate and undergraduate injury-related research each summer. This is a competitive program; applications received each spring go through a rigorous review process and 2 - 5 students are selected each year. The funds awarded help support the students' injury-related projects and culminates with a presentation in the fall at the ECIC Quarterly Meeting. This is a great opportunity and introduction to the injury field for students from all disciplines.
Summer Scholarship Program

Injury Control Research Center Grant

On August 1, 2009 ECIC was awarded a 5-year Injury Control Research Center (ICRC) grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and became recognized as one of 11 ICRCs in the country. This milestone enabled ECIC to make great strides in expanding its administrative infrastructure to manage an increased portfolio of programs and services available to its ever-growing community of researchers, practitioners, and students.
CDC-Funded Injury Control Research Centers

WestJEM

The ECIC published its first special issue of Western Journal of Emergency Medicine (WestJEM) in 2010. WestJEM is a peer-reviewed, open access journal indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, CINAHL, eScholarship, Medscape, which also offers an online interactive issue. The ECIC has partnered with WestJEM to publish 4 journal issues with a 5th being released summer 2014. The ECIC has complete editorial control over the issues and selects a different theme each year, encouraging affiliated faculty and partners to submit their manuscripts.
ECIC WestJEM Issues

Safe Communities

On April 24th 2012, Emory University became a designated Safe Community by the National Safety Council. Emory University is the first in Georgia, the second academic institution, and the 20th in the U.S. to be recognized as an international Safe Community. The ECIC spear-headed the application process and formed a coalition called the Emory Safety Alliance with the goal of fostering a culture of safety at Emory through a systematic, centralized approach to promoting safety and reducing injuries. Designated Safe Communities have demonstrated leadership in safety promotion and injury prevention and operate with a community-oriented approach by designing programs to meet the unique injury needs of each community.
Safe Communities America

Injury & Violence Prevention Certificate Program

The ECIC launched the first Injury & Violence Prevention Certificate Program at Emory University in September 2013. This program is designed to give MPH and PhD students a foundation in theoretical and epidemiologic concepts of injury prevention and control and a platform for which to examine the causes, consequences and prevention strategies used in our society. Combining multidisciplinary coursework, research, practical experience, and access to a vast injury prevention network, this certificate will broaden students' prospective on a complex issue while preparing them to become leaders of injury prevention within their chosen discipline.
Injury & Violence Prevention Certificate Program

The ECIC has had an extraordinary period of growth over the past 20 years. We have a vibrant network of partners that continues to expand and exceed my expectations. We've undergone significant transformation from a small but highly productive inter-disciplinary unit based at a single research university into an expansive multi-institution consortium. Above are some highlights over the years; we look forward to sharing more in our upcoming 20th Anniversary special report.

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