Medical students present new research at gun violence prevention conference

From left, Daphney Portis, Carly Salter, Makenna Taylor, Ashley Williams Hogue, M.D., Lynette Parker, and Joshua Jones attend the conference.

Two second-year medical students from the Whiddon College of Medicine recently presented new research at the National Conference for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms in Seattle. 

Makenna Taylor

Makenna Taylor and Carly Salter explored the impacts on those who treat victims of gun violence in their presentations at the third annual event. 

Last summer, Taylor worked alongside Ashley Williams Hogue, M.D., trauma surgeon and assistant professor of surgery, on better understanding the impact of hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIP) from the perspective of credible messengers. Credible messengers are also known as violence intervention specialists.  

Williams Hogue is cofounder of Project Inspire, a nationally recognized hospital-based violence injury prevention program at USA Health University Hospital designed to curb gun violence and recidivism among youth through intentional programming and mentorship in the Mobile community. 

“HVIPs are programs that largely operate out of trauma bays that seek to provide wraparound services to victims of gun violence in order to help them escape the cycle of such violence,” Taylor said. “Overall, our research aimed to understand the benefits and potential adverse effects of HVIPs from the perspective of violence intervention specialists.” 

According to her research, most violence intervention specialists find their job rewarding, but they do face significant challenges in providing sufficient resources to victims of gun violence. 

“I am currently most interested in internal medicine, and I had the privilege of getting to know internists at the conference who were able to help me make sense of how this research may play into my future career,” Taylor said. “I learned about other research presented on the effects of weather and access to air conditioning on rates of gun violence, to policies affecting gun violence, to methods of gun violence prevention.” 

Carly Salter

Salter’s presentation was a geospatial analysis comparing the location of gunshot injuries to a victim’s residence. 

“We found that residents of the City of Mobile are shot a mean distance of 5.4 miles from their home,” she said. “We also created a density map for the Gulf Coast to pinpoint which areas are affected most by gun violence.”  

Salter’s interest in the topic comes from her passion for emergency medicine and trauma surgery, both of which treat gunshot wound victims frequently in Mobile. 

“In order to better serve victims of gun violence, we need to first understand the population that is affected,” she said. “We hope this research identified which populations are in the most need in our community and helps create effective gun violence prevention measures as well as reduce the rate of revictimization.” 

Both Taylor and Salter described the experience presenting at the conference as exciting and surreal.  

“It was amazing to collaborate with other researchers in different fields who came from all across the nation,” Salter said.  

Both also expressed thanks to Williams Hogue, the USA Health Department of Surgery, the Whiddon College of Medicine, and the health system’s hospital-based violence intervention program, including Daphney Portis (Project INSPIRE), Lynette Parker (Center for Healthy Communities), and Joshua Jones (HVIP program director) for their support at the conference.