New funding for violence prevention research in California

The California Firearm Violence Research Center has awarded nearly $225,000 in grants to investigators studying gun violence exposure among adolescents, intimate partner violence and sex trafficking. 

The 2024 funded projects are:

• Leveraging Natural Language Processing for Identifying Intimate Partner Violence using Unstructured Health Care Records, investigators: Lisa Knowlton and Lakshika Tennakoon, Stanford University, Department of Surgery: This study will address challenges in identifying intimate partner violence among patients receiving care in health care settings. Existing methods lack consistency, contributing to underreporting. Stigma and fear silence victims, exacerbating the public health crisis. A scalable solution could empower health care professionals to identify and address intimate partner violence cases effectively.
• Exploring the Links: Group Gun Violence and Sex Trafficking and Exploitation in Oakland, CA, investigator: Rachel Locke, University of San Diego, Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice: This research will analyze the relationship between group-involved gun violence and sex trafficking and exploitation in Oakland. The work seeks to find entry points to interrupt harmful pathways by engaging directly with a range of community partners.
• Using an Innovative Machine Learning Method to Investigate Gun Violence Exposure on Adolescents’ Developmental Outcomes at School, investigators: Siwei Liu and Di Jody Zhou, UC Davis, Department of Human Ecology: This project aims to study the impacts of community gun violence exposure on adolescents' social and behavioral functioning. It will use an innovative machine-learning method that could provide insights for developing targeted interventions and strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of firearm violence.