COBRE Center Spotlight: The Injury Prevention Center at Connecticut Children’s

Director:Kevin Borrup, DrPH, JD, MPA, Executive Director

What is something that the city in which your organization/center is located is known for?
Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe; The Charter Oak; and, Insurance.

What is/are the primary injury topics your organization/center addresses?
The Injury Prevention Center is organized around five core areas: Research; Community Outreach; Clinical Partnerships; Academic & Professional Development; Policy Advocacy & Education. Within our Research Core we focus on Impact of Violence Exposure, Firearm Safe Storage, IPV and Child Maltreatment; Suicide Prevention Screening; Interventions to Improve Youth Mental Health Wellness.

Please tell us a bit about the injury work that is being done at your organization/center.
This work does not have to solely be work related to traditional grants or publications, it can include unique projects, community partnerships, and/or outreach programs.

Connecticut Children’s serves as the lead facilitator for the Hospital-based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP) in the City of Hartford. The Hartford HVIP Strengthening Collaborative brings together three level 1 trauma centers and a half-dozen community partners to work together to respond with wrap around services when someone is shot, and to work to prevent violence in the first place.

Are there opportunities in which students or faculty can connect with your organization/center (i.e. training or outreach opportunities)?
The Hayley Petit Injury and Violence Prevention Fellowship runs three sessions a year, in the fall, spring and summer months. The fellowship is an opportunity for young women interested in the field of healthcare and enrolled in an undergraduate college or university to study injury and violence prevention with Connecticut Children’s experts. The Fellowship concludes with Fellows delivering a presentation that fits their own unique interests within the field of Injury Prevention to the team from Connecticut Children's and members of the Petit Family Foundation, including Dr. William Petit.

Is there anything your organization/center needs that a SAVIR member or center could collaborate with you on?
We are looking to host post-doctoral students and are always looking to collaborate on injury and violence prevention training funding opportunities.

How is your organization/center involved with SAVIR (i.e. past/future conference site, board/committee members)?
The Connecticut Children’s IPC is represented on the Board of Centers and has led and participated in the Policy & Advocacy Committee of SAVIR. Hartford would be a great site for a conference in a few years.

Tell us about a fun tradition or activity you do as an organization/center.
Every year we engage around the winter holidays in a Yankee Swap. Numbers are drawn and wrapped gifts are opened one by one. Once you open a gift, you can exchange with another open gift. The person drawing number “1” gets to make the last swap at the very end. Along with food and drink, this is fun time for the team.

Is there anything else you would like to share with SAVIR members about your organization/center?
As a center wholly funded on gift/grant dollars and state-level contracts, we have a unique flexibility to pivot to address current contemporary issues impacting our communities. Our center is practice-based. This orientation ensures that we engage in work that is community engaged.

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