The Injury and Violence Prevention Center (IVPC) is excited to recognize the outstanding achievements of student award recipients for the 2023-2024 academic year. The IVPC Student Research Grant and the Hoffman Firearm Injury and Violence Prevention scholarship are key initiatives that demonstrate IVPC’s commitment to supporting education, collaborative research, and promoting injury and violence prevention efforts across disciplines.
Engaging Students Interested in Injury and Violence Prevention
The IVPC Student Research Award program provides funding to support students conducting research or evaluation projects in injury and violence prevention. The award, totaling $2000 per project, is completed within a year, followed by a student showcase presentation. Any student enrolled in an accredited undergraduate, graduate, or professional degree-granting program in the Rocky Mountain region is eligible. This includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Each recipient has shown exceptional commitment to promoting injury and violence prevention efforts.
During the 2023 fall award cycle, the Injury & Violence Prevention Center awarded six projects. A panel of center faculty and staff selected these projects from a competitive pool of applicants representing various disciplines and schools.
Fall 2023 Awardees
Kristi Bartholomay, a neuroscience and molecular biology alumnus of the University of Colorado Boulder, received an award for her project examining the association between bullying and teen mental health outcomes, with a focus on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) status, sex, and race/ethnicity. Kristi’s research interests in genetic and neurological developmental conditions in children, emphasizing reducing gender disparities in research, align with her interest in injury and violence prevention.
Alexandra Barone-Camp and Kaitlyn Dickinson, both third-year medical students at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, received an award for their joint project investigating the association between social vulnerability and health outcomes in motor vehicle accidents. Their interdisciplinary approach highlights the importance of collaborative research in injury prevention.
Alexandra’s research and interests include pediatric trauma indices and health disparities within the LGBTQ+ community. Kaitlyn’s previous work and research interests include the impact of social inequities on patient care.
Alexandra and Kaitlyn plan to use this grant to investigate the association between social vulnerability and health outcomes in motor vehicle accidents with the support of their mentors, Quintin Myers, PhD, Assistant Professor, Surgery-GI, Trauma, and Endocrine Surgery, and Catherine Velopulos, MD, MHS, FACS, Professor, Surgery-GI, Trauma, and Endocrine Surgery.
Amber Winters, a first-year PhD student at the Colorado State University Department of Psychology, was awarded for her project on scripts of adolescent male suicides. Amber has several years of suicide prevention and intervention research and direct clinical experience. This award will support her work on her project to understand suicide risk among male adolescents in northern Colorado. Her work on understanding suicide highlights the importance of mental health and suicide prevention efforts using a multidisciplinary approach.
Claire Jacobson, a third-year medical student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, was awarded for her project on social determinants and post-gunshot wound care: a descriptive analysis. This award will support her firearm injury prevention research project at Denver Health Medical Center, which is looking at how social determinants of health, including race, housing status, and mental health comorbidities, are impacting the follow-up care received by patients who have sustained firearm injuries. Claire's dedication to understanding the impact of social determinants of health on patient care demonstrates her commitment to improving healthcare outcomes for all communities.
The Hoffman Firearm Injury and Violence Prevention Scholarship
The Hoffman Firearm Injury & Violence Prevention scholarship is awarded to master's or doctoral students at the Colorado School of Public Health who show high academic potential and are committed to preventing firearm injury and death in public health.
2023-2024 Hoffman Scholars
Leslie Barnard, a 2024 DrPH candidate in the epidemiology program, received for her project on the use of Extreme Risk Protection Orders for Military Service Members and Veterans in Colorado from 2020-2023. Leslie’s previous work as an epidemiologist in state and local health departments included various injury and violence prevention programs. Her current work as a graduate research assistant in the University of Colorado School of Medicine Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative (FIPI) on various projects including work with the Colorado Office of Gun Violence Prevention and firearm policy evaluation. Leslie’s dissertation focuses on firearm storage practices to prevent firearm suicide.
Ginny McCarthy, MPH, MDiv, is a DrPH candidate in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health and received an award for her project on hospital-based violence intervention programs. She is also a graduate research assistant at the University of Colorado School of Medicine Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative and Colorado School of Public Health’s Injury and Violence Prevention Center. Ginny also serves as the director of development for the Denver Youth Program, the Gang Rescue and Support Project (GRASP) in the Denver Metro area.
For more information regarding funding opportunities related to injury and violence prevention, please visit our student page. To explore previous projects completed by our students, please take a look at our student projects page.
