frivara

Dr. Fred Rivara is a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital and is known for his research into the relationship between gun ownership and gun violence. Rivara has also researched many other topics related to injury risk and prevention including bicycle helmets, intimate partner violence, and alcohol abuse.

In the 1980’s and 1990s, Dr. Rivara and his colleagues received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to research the relationship between gun ownership and gun violence. Their research found that the chances of homicide or suicide increase threefold when there is a gun present in a home, while the risk of suicide for teens increases as much as tenfold. Rivara and his colleagues published their research in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1988-1993 in a series of articles on their findings. These findings raised the attention of the National Rifle Association (NRA) who lobbied Congress saying that since guns aren’t a disease, CDC funds should not be allocated to them. Congress then passed a bill that essentially prevented the CDC from setting aside funds for gun research.

Rivara earned his doctor of medicine in 1974 (University of Pennsylvania) and his master’s in public health in 1980 (University of Washington).

At the University of Washington, Rivara is vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and adjunct Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health, University of Washington

May 2016