CDC Awards $4 Million to the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy

Funding Will Support Projects on Car Ignition Lock Laws, Bicyle Helmet Policies, M-Health and Prescription Drug Overdose and Falls Among Seniors 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $4 million to the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Bloomberg School of Public Health to help the Center continue its mission of making discoveries that save lives and reduce costs due to injuries.

Injuries are the leading cause of death in the United States among people ages 1 to 44, costing the country $406 billion annually. Worldwide, 16,000 people die from largely preventable injuries every day.

“This funding will allow us to advance our work in closing the gap between research and practice in new and innovative ways,” says Andrea Gielen, ScD, ScM, the Center’s director. “Whether fatal or non-fatal, injuries take an enormous toll on communities. Our faculty, staff and students are dedicated to preventing injuries and ameliorating their effects through better design of products and environments, more effective policies, increased education and improved treatment.”

The five-year grant will support several innovative research projects on key issues, including evaluating motor vehicle ignition interlock laws, studying universal bicycle helmet policies, testing m-Health tools to reduce prescription drug overdose and evaluating programs to prevent falls among older adults. The Center will also continue to offer training and education to public health students and practitioners, as well as to new audiences that can contribute to injury prevention.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy is one of 10 CDC-funded Injury Control Research Centers. For more than 25 years, the Center has helped to redefine injury as a pressing public health problem and to promote it as a scientific discipline through high-quality research, advocacy and education.

“Research to improve options for intervention is critical to injury and violence prevention,” says Daniel M. Sosin, MD, MPH, acting director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. “Injury Control Research Centers are a cornerstone of our approach to cutting-edge research. We are honored and look forward to working alongside the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy by supporting the translation of evidence-based programs and policies into community- and state-based prevention efforts.”

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Media contact for the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy: Eric Schulman at 443-287-2947 or eschulm2@jhu.edu.

Media contact for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Stephanie Desmon at 410-955-7619 or sdesmon1@jhu.edu.