Our People

Dr. Cunningham, formerly director of the University's Injury Research Center, has a distinguished career in researching intentional injury and substance use prevention, particularly of youth and young adult populations. Her focus on brief interventions in the emergency room has helped position the emergency department as a critical location for public health interventions, specifically for violence. She is currently leading two NIH-funded studies on substance abuse: one focusing on the intersection of youth violence and drug use, and one focusing on underage alcohol misuse and associated injury. In addition to her continuing work as practicing Emergency Department physician, she is also leading the Fogarty-funded UM Initiative (MEPI) to improved acute emergency care through EM medical education in Ghana, Africa.

Dr. Bingham's research addresses adolescent and young adult driving and alcohol use. His research has examined psychosocial predictors of driving risk, alcohol misuse, and drinking and driving. He has helped develop and evaluate prevention programs to reduce alcohol use and driving risk. In addition, Dr. Bingham has lead several translational studies of programs and policies to reduce the risk of motor vehicle crashes and related injuries among novice teenage drivers. Dr. Bingham leads the unintentional research core of the Center's work.

Dr. Caldwell's research interests are in the areas of family influences on the health risk behaviors and well-being of African American adolescents, including aggressive behaviors, substance use, and depression. Dr. Caldwell co-leads the Training and Education programs of the Center.

Dr. Ehrlich's research focuses on pediatric and adolescent injury. His current projects include the biomechanics of falls related to playground design. He is also particularly interested in the relationship between substance abuse injury and risk taking in adolescents. He has conducted intervention trials to explore risk taking and longitudinal models of change. He is interested in the relationship of parents as role models for injury behavior. Dr. Ehrlich leads the Center's Outreach activities.

Dr. Lipton's interests center on two general areas: Alcohol and health and geographical-spatial methods of assessing public health issues such as violence and alcohol outlets. For the former, he has received NIAAA funding to examine abstention, alcohol consumption and health. For the latter, he has received funding from the state of California to investigate the spatial relationships of underage drinking in the City of Los Angeles, and tobacco-related disease throughout the state. In addition, he has NIAAA funding to study drug market activity, alcohol outlets and violence in Boston, Massachusetts. He also has worked on mathematical and statistical models related to alcohol consumption assessment. He additionally works on the ways in which causal thinking is used and misused in epidemiology. Dr. Lipton co-leads the Center's activities for Methods.

Susan Morrel-Samuels has directed numerous violence prevention projects, including evaluations of the Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence and the Neighborhood Violence Prevention Collaborative, and Flint Photovoice and Youth Against Violence Photovoice projects. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Ms. Morrel-Samuels was a Program Manager and Trainer for Hawaii Healthy Start, a child abuse and neglect prevention program that has been widely replicated throughout the United States. Ms. Morrel-Samuels provides leadership for the Center's Outreach activities.

Dr. Shope has served as director of the Center for Injury Prevention among Youth and has been actively promoting injury research and teaching at the UM. She offers an injury course in the Health Behavior and Health Education Department, and mentors students and junior faculty interested in injury. Her research has focused on youth in the areas of substance abuse prevention, understanding the predictors of risky/unsafe driving, evaluations of graduated driver licensing, and interventions to help parents keep their novice teenage drivers safe. Dr. Shope co-leads the Training and Education programs of the Center.

Dr. Walton's research interests include developing and testing the efficacy of interventions for alcohol, drug use and violence in community health care settings, such as the emergency department (ED), primary care, and substance use treatment. Her research focuses on the interrelationship among multiple risk behaviors such as alcohol, illicit drugs, and violence, particularly among traditionally understudied populations such as adolescents, women, and African-Americans. Dr. Walton and colleagues recently completed studies examining the effectiveness of brief interventions for alcohol and violence among adolescents presenting to urban ED's, marijuana prevention interventions among youth in primary care settings, and health services interventions among adults with substance use disorders presenting to the ED.Dr.Waltonleads the unintentional research core of the Center's work.

Dr. Zimmerman's research focuses on health and resiliency of adolescents, and empowerment theory. His work on adolescent health examines how positive factors in adolescents' lives help them overcome risks they face. His research includes analysis of adolescent resiliency for risks associated with violent behavior, alcohol and drug use, sex risk behavior, and school failure. He is also studying developmental transitions and longitudinal models of change. Dr. Zimmerman's work on empowerment theory includes measurement and analysis of psychological and community empowerment. His research includes both longitudinal interview studies and community intervention research. Dr. Zimmerman is the Director and PI of the CDC-funded Prevention Research Center of Michigan, and of the CDC-funded Youth Violence Prevention Center. He is the Editor of Youth and Society, former editor of Health Education & Behavior, and is a member of the editorial board for Health Education Research.