Second Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention

Second Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention

By: Christen Bourgeois Date: September 21st, 2022

Group photo of representatives from 47 multidisciplinary medical and injury prevention professional organizations

Forty-seven multidisciplinary medical and injury prevention professional organizations participated in the Second Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention in Chicago.


The Second Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention
convened on September 10-11 at the American College of Surgeons (ACS) headquarters in Chicago with in-person and virtual participation.

This year’s Summit was co-hosted by American College of Physicians (ACP), the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS). Distinguished experts included both physicians and non-physicians, who delivered evidence-based presentations directly related to varying approaches to firearm injury prevention and the evolving field of research which seeks to identify the most effective strategies.

HIPRC’s Core Faculty member, Dr. Eileen M. Bulger, FACS served as Summit Organizer and successfully brought together 47 multidisciplinary medical and injury prevention professional organizations to participate in this year’s discussion of priorities addressing our nation’s firearm public health crisis. “Now that we’ve concluded the second Summit, it’s becoming even more clear there are many things we can all agree on in terms of immediate, actionable items that can address firearm violence,” said Eileen M. Bulger, MD, FACS, Medical Director of ACS Trauma Programs, and Summit organizer. “There was a lot of spirited energy among attendees who expressed a strong desire to move forward quickly to address this problem that’s been devastating our nation.”

As injury, disability & death rates continue to remain alarmingly high from firearm violence across the U.S., a key objective of this year’s Summit was to identify elements of the most effective programs that can be implemented by physician practices/clinics/hospitals/health systems in partnership with their communities to lower the risk of violence for marginalized communities that are disproportionately impacted by violence. Dr. Rowhani-Rahbar, PhD, MPH presented on the evidence of effectiveness of state laws for firearm violence prevention and Dr. Deepika Nehra, HIPRC core faculty presented on the Hospital Violence Prevention Program at Harborview Medical Center and King County/Seattle.

It’s anticipated that proceedings from the Second Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention will be released in coming months. To view a complete listing of organizations that participated in this year’s Summit, visit: facs.org.

Courtesy: American College of Surgeons (ACS)