Dr. Betz will discuss the origins of "gun shop projects" and the development of the Colorado Firearm Safety Coalition. Her lecture will include lessons learned and tips for building effective engagement.

Dr. Betz is an emergency physician who works clinically at the University of Colorado Hospital and conducts research in injury epidemiology and prevention. She is currently an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine (University of Colorado School of Medicine), Deputy Director of the Program for Injury Prevention, Education and Research (Colorado School of Public Health), and a Research Physician at the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Core (Eastern Colorado VA). She received her MD and MPH from Johns Hopkins University and completed her clinical training at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Betz’s area of research expertise is “patient-centered injury prevention,” or the development and testing of acceptable, effective interventions for clinical settings. Her current areas of work include “lethal means safety” (i.e., reducing access to guns and other lethal methods for those who are suicidal), older driver retirement, and firearm safety in dementia. She has worked with numerous state and national organizations, including the Colorado Suicide Prevention Commission, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons, the American Geriatrics Society, the Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Office, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. She co-founded and leads the Colorado Firearm Safety Coalition, a collaborative effort between public health and medical professionals and firearm retailers to reduce firearm suicides. She serves as PI and Co-I on multiple research projects funded through the National Institutes of Health and private foundations, and she has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts. She is passionate about using public speaking, publications outside of scientific journals, and media engagement to help educate the public and policy-makers about injury prevention, and in 2015 she gave a TEDxMileHigh talk on firearm suicide.