SAVIR Member Spotlight: Carissa Tomas, PhD

My career in injury and violence prevention started with my graduate training in neuroscience. I joined a lab that was investigating the neural underpinnings of risk for poor mental health after traumatic injury to identify potential points of early intervention. As I was set to graduate, I wanted to contribute to research that had a quicker time to translation. Things move very slowly in neuroscience, but epidemiology and public health are relatively faster with more real-time implications for prevention, intervention, and policy change. I joined the Division of Epidemiology and Social Sciences at the Medical College of Wisconsin as faculty. I shifted my research interests with traumatic injury populations to more of a public health approach (though I still get to work with brains every so often!). My work now examines the broader socioenvironmental context from which traumatic injury patients come and return for recovery. In Milwaukee, gun violence is the 3rd most common mechanism of injury for adult and pediatric patients treated at our level 1 trauma centers, and thus my work has naturally evolved to encompass violence prevention research too.

How long have you been a member of SAVIR? What has been your favorite part about being involved with SAVIR?

I have been a member of SAVIR shortly after I became faculty in 2022. My favorite part about SAVIR is the annual conference. I’ve had great experiences at the last 2 conferences and was able to meet peers and colleagues who are doing similar work in other states. The pre-meeting workshops are always well organized, and I’ve learned a lot in those. Sometimes it feels like the injury research space is enormous and daunting, but it’s a much smaller community than you think and it’s so great to see familiar faces every year and get better acquainted with everyone.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career so far?

I am very fortunate to be part of the Comprehensive Injury Center, a CDC funded Injury Control Research Center, where I’m part of an incredible team of researchers dedicated to improving safety and health for our city, county, and state. Together we are making real a real impact through data, research, and evaluation, which is exactly how I hoped to contribute my skills to the greater scientific community. I also find mentoring trainees to be really rewarding and helping them get to where they want to go and finding their own niche to contribute to the field.

What do you like to do in your free time?

My husband and I are avid runners and triathletes and have done several marathons and an Ironman races, so we’re always looking ahead to our next challenge. Our 3 dogs Winnie, Walter, and Wilma keep us entertained and on our toes every day. I love hot yoga, kayaking, traveling, and reading nonfiction (especially books about animal behavior and science).