Past Programs
On April 18, nationally respected researchers and leading pediatric and public health practitioners joined the Institute of Politics at the Children's Museum's MuseumLab to discuss the epidemic of gun violence and possible responses to it from a public health perspective. The community forum focused on policies and practices that can reduce the fatalities, physical injuries and emotional trauma among children that are caused by gun violence.
Presented by the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics in partnership with The Pittsburgh Foundation and United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, this program was the second in a three-part series on protecting our region's children from gun violence. For more information on the series, please visit the landing page hosted by The Pittsburgh Foundation.
View Recording
Thanks to our program sponsor:
Thanks also to the Children's Museum for their generous donation of the space for the event.
Keynote Speakers
Moira Szilagyi, MD, PhD, FAAP
2022 President of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Division Chief of Developmental/Behavioral Pediatrics
Peter Shapiro Term Chair for the Promotion of Child Developmental and Behavioral Health
University of California, Los Angeles
Representing the AAP’s 67,000 pediatric medical practitioners, Dr. Szilagyi testified to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary on June 15, 2022, calling for public policy to “Protect America’s Children from Gun Violence” citing that 3,500 children and teens die by firearms each year, another 15,000 are wounded by firearms, and over three million children are exposed to gun violence on an annual basis. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children making it the number one public health crisis facing our country’s youth.
Building from their long and successful history of child injury prevention in this country, Dr. Szilagyi and other pediatric experts are now approaching this crisis through a public health lens by focusing on the many determinants of gun violence and exploring the range of ways society can collectively respond to each. Childhood trauma, mental health, disproportionate exposure to violence in communities of color, and easy access to firearms are four determinants that the AAP has identified and will be explored in this session. Lastly, Dr. Szilagyi will discuss how imperative it is to test and evaluate prevention and intervention models, which only becomes possible with increased investments in gun violence research.
Rosanna Smart, PhD, MA
Economist, RAND; Codirector, RAND Gun Policy in America initiative
Dr. Rosanna Smart is a leading researcher at the RAND corporation and co-leads the RAND Gun Policy in America Initiative. Dr. Smart aims to understand conclusively the determinants of gun violence and how quality improvements in gun violence research can lead to “life-saving innovation”.
Nearly thirty years ago with the 1996 Dickey Amendment, effectively all gun violence research funding dried up leaving a void of evidence-based policy development that could have prevented the public health crisis of gun violence that our country now finds itself facing. An opportunity to shape data-driven policy was created in 2019 with the first of an annual Congressional appropriation of $25 million for firearm violence prevention research. And with this opportunity also comes a growing field of researchers that can avoid the shortcomings of prior years’ research methods.
In this session, Dr. Smart will discuss the methodological improvements needed in gun violence research. She will also provide recent findings that resulted from these improvements and that can significantly reduce childhood deaths and injuries along with firearm homicides. Smart will also discuss existing challenges and opportunities related to the strength of our country’s data infrastructure.
Local Response Panel
Jamil Bey, PhD
Founder and CEO, UrbanKind Institute
Driven by his desire to change the outcomes of marginalized and overburdened communities, Dr. Jamil Bey is the founder and CEO of UrbanKind Institute.
Dr. Bey believes that cities should be kind places for people. He is inspired by the many young people he works with, challenging himself to do better, work smarter, and find new ways to create space and opportunities for these future leaders to shine. He is on a mission to promote political, economic, housing, educational, environmental, and social justice through improving communities and driving change. His ultimate goal is to establish Southwestern Pennsylvania as a place where Black children and families can prosper and thrive and white supremacy is eradicated.
Dr. Bey stirs critical thinking by facilitating tough conversations around race, equity, and systemic change. In addition to Dr. Bey's role as UrbanKind's visionary, he serves on many boards and councils throughout Pittsburgh, to drive real systemic change in policy and programming that affects underserved populations. Additionally, Dr. Bey is the founder of the Black Environmental Collective.
He earned a PhD and a Master of Science at Penn State University in Geography. He also holds a bachelor's degree in Education, which allows him to connect with people and see the world around him through a unique lens.
In his free time Dr. Bey enjoys gourmet cooking, gardening, off-road driving, and hosting friends and family. Dr. Bey’s friends would describe him as witty, charismatic, and passionate.
Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD, FSAHM
Division Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics, Public Health and Clinical and Translational Science
Edmund R. McCluskey Chair in Pediatric Medical Education
Co-Lead, The Pittsburgh Study
Co-Director, Community PARTners (Community Engagement) Core, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Liz Miller is professor of pediatrics, public health, and clinical and translational science and holds the Edmund R. McCluskey Chair in Pediatric Medical Education at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is also Director of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and the Medical Director of Community and Population Health. She serves as the Academic Co-Director of Community PARTners (the community engagement core) for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.
Trained in internal medicine, pediatrics and medical anthropology, she has over 20 years of practice and community-partnered research experience in addressing interpersonal violence prevention among adolescents and young adults in clinical and community settings. With diverse funding from National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Justice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Women’s Health, and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs, she has developed and tested clinical and community-based interventions in collaboration with youth, patients, health care providers, victim service advocates, public health administrators, educators, and school administrators.
She has conducted several large-scale, community-partnered research studies including a randomized controlled trial of an athletic coach-delivered gender-based violence prevention program across 41 middle schools (R01CE002543), a youth violence prevention intervention titled Manhood 2.0 across 21 neighborhoods with concentrated disadvantage in Pittsburgh (U01CE002528), and a sexual violence intervention with 28 college campus health centers that is the foundation for this proposal (R01 AA023260). Her team is currently fielding two cluster-randomized trials, one testing trauma-focused support groups in middle schools (R01CE002981) and the other evaluating a racial and gender justice-focused youth violence prevention program in community settings (R01MD013797).
Her research has resulted in over 280 peer-reviewed articles as well as numerous book chapters, commentaries, and clinical guidelines. She has participated in numerous legislative hearings related to protecting adolescent confidentiality, adolescent reproductive health, and adolescent relationship abuse and intimate partner violence prevention. Her work on reproductive coercion and birth control sabotage has resulted in changes in national clinical practice guidelines. She conducts research in partnership with community health clinics testing brief clinical interventions to address partner violence and reproductive coercion in community health care and school health settings. She is involved in developing and testing primary violence prevention programs, including one titled “Coaching Boys into Men” which involves training coaches to talk to their male athletes about stopping violence against women.
She also co-directs, with Ms. Felicia Savage Friedman, a landmark collective impact, community-partnered intervention study called The Pittsburgh Study that seeks to identify and evaluate best practices to support child and adolescent health and thriving. As a mixed-methods intervention researcher trained in community-partnered participatory research, she has taught courses in stakeholder engagement and knowledge translation.
Miller has a strong track record of mentoring learners at various stages in stakeholder-engaged, patient-oriented research (including F, T and K awards). She received the Distinguished Mentor Award from the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Clinical Research Education. As Director of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, she provides guidance on clinical and social aspects of adolescent and young adult development, including provision of clinical care for youth who are court-involved, child welfare-involved, and who are unstably housed.
Tim Smith
CEO, Center of Life, Hazelwood Pittsburgh
Life-long Pittsburgh resident, Center of Life’s CEO, Tim Smith, is affectionately known as “PT” (short for Pastor Tim). Though Center of Life was founded in an official capacity in 2001, his roots in Hazelwood run deep and he’s worked and volunteered in the community since the 1980s. His passion for connecting with kids and families led him to create Center of Life as a nonprofit and community empowerment organization — one founded on his personal philosophies and that guides the organization’s direction and impact to this day.
PT’s philosophy of economics, environment, and empowerment includes giving people the tools they need to not only succeed, but to lead economic revitalization in Hazelwood and similar communities in the face of generational and economic discrimination; providing every person with a sense of belonging, significance, and security; and connecting an individual’s inherent natural talent (which we believe each person possesses) with meaningful opportunity and education.
PT brings a wealth of knowledge, compassion, and creativity to Center of Life and Hazelwood each day. His education from Westinghouse High School, University of Pittsburgh, and the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary as well as his professional experiences as an investment banker and National Youth Network Coordinator allow him to lead the organization on all fronts.
When asked his favorite thing about Hazelwood, PT says, “The people… Because everything is about people. The people [in Hazelwood] are my professors and Hazelwood is the university.”
June 13 Program
The third program in the three-part series on gun violence, hosted by the United Way of Southwestern PA, was held on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, from 5 - 8 pm at the Jame E. Rohr Auditorium in the Tower at PNC Plaza in downtown Pittsburgh.
Amidst growing gun violence in our communities, how can government, the private sector, and community based non-profit organizations come together to address the root causes of this epidemic? Attendees joined us at this final forum, which examined the ways in which we can collaborate to proactively create opportunity and make our region safe for children, their families, and their communities. We were joined by a number of local and national keynote speakers, including Mayor Ed Gainey, and then engaged in a community conversation about how we can best work together to keep our communities safe.
Keynote Speakers:
Ed Gainey, Mayor, City of Pittsburgh
Anthony Smith, Executive Director, Cities United
Sean Garrett, President and CEO, United Way of Metro Chicago
Josh Fleitman, Western Pennsylvania Manager, CeaseFirePA
Moderator:
Anna Hollis, Executive Director, Amachi Pittsburgh