Biography: Dr. Charles Branas is currently Department Chair and Gelman Endowed Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Branas has conducted research that extends from urban and rural areas in the US to communities across the globe, incorporating place-based interventions and human geography. He has led win-win science that generates new knowledge while simultaneously creating positive, real-world changes and providing health-enhancing resources for local communities. His pioneering work on geographic access to medical care has changed the healthcare landscape, leading to the designation of new hospitals and a series of national scientific replications in the US and other countries for many conditions: trauma, cancer, stroke, etc. His research on the geography and factors underpinning gun violence has been cited by landmark Supreme Court decisions, Congress, and the NIH Director. With community partners, Dr. Branas led the first citywide randomized controlled trials to transform vacant lots and abandoned buildings as sustainable solutions to improving health and safety, including reductions in gun violence. He has worked internationally on four continents and led multi-national efforts, producing extensive cohorts of developing nation scientists, national health metrics, and worldwide press coverage.
Guns, Places, and Public Health
Abstract: There are many competing influences in terms of why we have seen record levels of gun violence in the US this past year and why gun violence is now the leading cause of death in US children. While we should continue to focus on gun laws and law enforcement as possible solutions, both these approaches have their limitations. As a complementary series of solutions now supported by multiple large-scale scientific studies, addressing the basic structures and places that generate gun violence in the first place may offer scalable and more sustainable benefits to US communities long-suffering from the tragedy of gun violence.
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