How are you committing on a daily basis to health equity?

“I’m an immigrant, and have lived in the United States for 15 years. I was six months pregnant with my first child when the Sandy Hook school shooting happened. So ever since I had children myself, I had to face the reality that I was exposing my children to potential firearm injuries—something that could easily be avoided if I moved back to Germany. So conducting firearm injury research became a very personal choice for me, and has kept me committed to health equity.”

What do you see as your role in promoting health equity?

“Firearm injury prevention is a huge equity issue. For example, young Black men in the U.S. are 20 times more likely to die from firearm homicides than young white men. There are significant disparities among rural populations, by gender, and other groups, as well. Being a public health researcher in this field means I have to embed health equity and antiracist principles into my work.”

What challenges do you face in firearm safety research?

“The biggest challenge I face is the federal divestment in firearm safety research. Securing sustainable funds has always been an issue in public health, and that issue is aggravated in firearm safety research. A big chunk of my time is spent writing grants because grants in my field are extremely competitive. Spending so much time writing grants means I have less time to do important work, including analyzing data, conducting research, writing papers, or connecting with the media to share important information.”

How would you challenge others to think about firearm safety through a public health lens?

“We need to be concerned and devastated about all of the firearm violence happening across the country, including, but not limited to mass shootings. When you look at all firearm injuries and deaths in this country, it’s like we have mass shootings distributed across the map every day, and kids are dying and live in fear of firearm violence on a regular basis. The United States is failing its children. We always talk about the freedom to own a firearm, but freedom comes with responsibility, right? We need to do whatever we can to protect members of our society, especially children.”

What changes do you think the field of public health needs to make? 

“In the firearm injury space, there is so much polarization and divisiveness that makes upstream public health work difficult. This divisiveness is getting in the way of solutions, so we need to address the fundamental issue of distrust and polarization in public health.” 

How do we address the firearm injury crisis in the U.S.?

“After the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, there was a vigil held here in Minneapolis. Something one of the speakers said profoundly resonated with me, which was that ‘Hope is a choice.’ As a society, we are constantly devastated by the firearm injury crisis. After a while, I think a lot of people become resigned, like this is a problem we cannot solve. We need to have courage to make change, and we must continue to stay involved, to contribute, and to remain hopeful. Remember that hope is not something that is given to you. Hope comes from taking action.”