Announcing New Student Research Grant Awards

The Injury and Violence Prevention Center is pleased to announce the recipients of the Spring 2022 Injury and Violence Prevention Student Research Grants. The one-year grant awards, in the amount of $1,500 per student, were selected by a panel of center faculty from applications submitted by students from various disciplines and schools in the Mountain West region.

Project: Fentanyl Harm Reduction in Denver, CO

Ephrat Fisseha is an MD/MPH student who is pursuing emergency medicine. She is particularly interested in social determinants of health and harm reduction in the emergency department setting. In light of the sharp increase in fentanyl related overdoses, many harm reduction efforts have been targeted to people who inject drugs and have not reached populations of drug users who do not inject drugs or intentionally seek opioids. This award will support her project set in the Denver Health Emergency Department offering free fentanyl test strips and education to patients who use drugs. Fentanyl test strips are harm reduction tools that detect if a drug sample contains fentanyl, thereby reducing the risk of unintentional overdose. She is being mentored by Jason Haukoos, MD. 

Project: Examining the Relationship Between Traumatic Brain Injury, Race/Ethnicity and Suicide

Charles Lommen is currently pursuing a Bachelors in Neuroscience at Colorado University Boulder. This award will help in his work researching the link between traumatic brain injury, suicide, and quality of care as it relates to ethnicity. Charles currently works as an EMT and hopes to use his research, clinical experience, and education to contribute towards the research in the traumatic brain injury field. He is mentored by Christine Baugh, PhD, MPH of CU Anschutz.

Project: Prevention First: Providing Suicide Prevention Services for WCU Students

Spencer Smith is an Academic Counselor and is pursuing his Masters of Behavioral Science in Rural Community Health at Western Colorado University. Before becoming a counselor and attending graduate school, he acquired a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology with an emphasis in Criminal Justice and a minor in Pre-Law from Western. This award will support his work in providing preventative services regarding suicide, and collaborating with community organizations and national non-profits to better the overall mental health of Western’s students. He is primarily mentored by Jessica Eckhardt, Ph.D., University of Utah.