Firearm Injury Prevention Team

Dr. Megan L. Ranney is an emergency physician, researcher, and leading advocate for innovative, intersectional approaches to public health. She is the Dean of the Yale School of Public Health, the C.-E. A. Winslow Professor of Public Health, and a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Yale University. Dr. Ranney is the first Dean to lead the school since it became a fully independent graduate institution in 2024, with a new strategic vision of linking science and society, making public health foundational to communities everywhere. Dr. Ranney’s career has been driven by her front-row seat to preventable public health crises, from her formative years in the Peace Corps to her 20+ years as a practicing emergency medicine physician. Whether addressing motor vehicle injuries and firearm violence, HIV and COVID-19, or the importance of healthcare access, her first-hand experiences have fueled her commitment to high-quality science and making sure the science is used and understood by communities across the globe. Research: Her research, which centers on interventions to prevent violence and related behavioral health problems, with a particular focus on the role of social media and digital health, has been published in over 200 journals, including NEJM, JAMA, Nature, Annals of Internal Medicine, and Annals of Emergency Medicine. She has served as principal investigator for numerous grants from NIH, CDC, and foundations and has launched numerous mentees into successful research careers. Leadership: In 2022, Dr. Ranney was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) for her scientific contributions to the fields of firearm injury prevention and digital health and for her translation of health policy and behavioral science theory to COVID-related risk reduction. Within the NAM, Dr. Ranney serves as co-chair of the Firearm Injury Prevention Special Interest Group and is a member of the planning committee for the NASEM Forum on Gun Violence Prevention. She is also an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dean Ranney's dedication to public health is internationally recognized, and her leadership is sought across sectors. She has given dozens of international keynotes for academic and non-academic audiences. On a national scale, she has also helped shape bipartisan policy and public opinion with multiple Congressional testimonies and provided expertise to the U.S. Surgeon General and the White House across multiple presidential administrations. She also provides guidance to international non-governmental organizations and private corporations. Dr. Ranney founded two nonprofits (AFFIRM at the Aspen Institute and GetUsPPE) and serves as a board member on many organizations that work to curb violence, promote health communication, and improve global health. She is a founding board member of the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms, and serves as chair of the Selection Committee for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s "Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications.” She also sits on the Milken Institute Public Health Advisory Board, The Commonwealth Fund’s Health Equity advisory committee, and the Board of Trustees for the National Opioid Abatement Trust. She is a graduate of the Aspen Institute’s Health Innovators Fellowship Program and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Communications: Dr. Ranney is a nationally recognized figure in the media with hundreds of national and international appearances that translate public health messages and science to the public. She has appeared in outlets ranging from CNN and Fox News to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and leading national Substack columns. Awards: Dean Ranney has received numerous awards for technology innovation, public health, and research, including the Ira Hiscock Award in 2024 for her outstanding leadership in public health; the RockHealth “Top 50 in Digital Health” award in 2023; Rhode Island’s “Woman of the Year” in 2021; and the American College of Emergency Physicians’ Policy Pioneer Award in 2018. Academia: Prior to arriving at Yale, Dean Ranney served as Deputy Dean at the Brown University School of Public Health; the Warren Alpert Endowed Professor of Emergency Medicine at Alpert Medical School of Brown University; and the Founding Director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health. She remains an adjunct faculty member at Brown University. Education: Dr. Ranney earned her MD from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she graduated as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. She holds an MPH from Brown University and a bachelor’s degree in the history of science, graduating summa cum laude from Harvard University. She completed her residency in emergency medicine and a fellowship in injury prevention research at Brown University. She was previously a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cote d'Ivoire.

Nelba holds a Bachelor of Music from the Hartt School and a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy from St. Joseph College. Nelba taught and supervised at the Family Therapy program at the University of Winnipeg’s Aurora Family Therapy Centre and later worked as the Coordinator for Klingberg Family Therapy Center’s outpatient child and adolescent psychiatric clinic. She also served as adjunct faculty at Central Connecticut State University. Nelba founded the CTAMFT (Connecticut Association for Marriage and Family Therapy) Diversity Committee and served on the CTAMFT Board of Directors. For her advocacy, she received the 2004 Minority Fellowship Award by the AAMFT, the 2004 Distinguished Professional Service Award, and the 2013 Service to Families Award by the CTAMFT. In 2017 she was awarded the Key to the Centre award at the Aurora family Therapy Centre in Winnipeg, MB. In 2018, she was profiled as one of “100 Women of Color” and a YWCA (CT) Women’s Leadership Award recipient. She was featured in People Magazine’s October 2019 issue as one of Ten Women Changing the World and also recognized by Chelsea Clinton and Hillary Clinton in their Book of Gutsy Women. Nelba has testified and advocated at the state and federal levels on many different mental health initiatives, hosted TEDx talks, and is a nationally sought after speaker. In the many years that have followed, stints in advocacy, public policy, community care, etc. have affirmed her core belief that in order to change the world through policy and research we must also take care of people. Public health practices can do both.

Dr. Degutis, a native of Chicago, received her Bachelor of Science degree from DePaul University, and her MSN and DrPH from Yale University. She is a consultant in injury and violence prevention and policy, public health preparedness, and public health policy. Some of her current work focuses on suicide prevention in veterans, and firearm violence prevention, as well as public health practice. She is former Executive Director of Defense Health Horizons, a program of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, based at the Uniformed Services University. In addition, she was the Chief Science Officer and Board Chair for The Avielle Foundation. She chaired the Board of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), is past president of the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR), and chairs the Advisory Board of the College of Science and Health of DePaul University. She is also on the Advisory Board for the Systems for Action Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and currently chairs the board of the Stop Abuse Campaign. She serves on the editorial board of Injury Epidemiology, and is a member of the international advisory board of the journal Public Health. In addition, she is an advisor to the MENA program, which is based in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale. Dr. Degutis is former Director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC. In her previous role at Yale, she was Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Public Health, Research Director for Emergency Medicine, and Associate Clinical Professor of Nursing and Director and Co-PI of the Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness, which designed and implemented education in disaster preparedness, response and recovery. She served as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in the Office of the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN). She is a Past President of the American Public Health Association (APHA), the oldest and largest public health association in the world. Dr. Degutis, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship Alumni, has received the Distinguished Career and Public Service Awards from the Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section of APHA, received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Yale School of Public Health, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health. Her work has focused on public health policy, injury and violence, gun violence prevention, suicide prevention, substance abuse and policy, as well as disaster preparedness and mitigation.

Sarah Lowe, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health, with secondary appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Nursing. Her research focuses on the long-term mental health consequences of a range of potentially traumatic events, as well as the impact of such events on other domains of functioning, such as physical health, social relationships, and economic wellbeing. Her work explores the mechanisms leading from trauma exposure to symptoms, and the role of factors at various ecological levels – from genetics to neighborhoods – in shaping risk and resilience. She uses a range of methodologies to achieve her research aims, including structural equation modeling, latent growth curve analysis, geospatial modeling, and qualitative analysis, among others.  Dr. Lowe received her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Boston and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Psychiatric Epidemiology Training program at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Dr. Danielle (Dani) Poole is a population health scientist notable for her contributions to the evidence base for humanitarian decision-making. Within the broader field of humanitarian health research, her work is centered around two themes: 1) measuring needs among populations affected by crises with a focus on health during displacement, and 2) developing novel research methods for complex settings. To address these lines of inquiry, Dr. Poole applies methodological approaches spanning the epidemiological, geospatial, and biostatistical sciences. Recent and ongoing research contributions that have informed humanitarian response include the Yale University independent review of the Joint Intersectoral Analysis Framework (in partnership with UNOCHA), development of the Humanitarian Data Strategy for UNFPA’s Humanitarian Office, and geospatial analysis of health facility attacks in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. Findings from her work have been featured at numerous conferences, including meetings of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as peer-reviewed and popular media publications. Dr. Poole completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Neukom Institute for Computational Science of Dartmouth College. She earned a ScD from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, an MPH from Brown University, and a BA from Seattle University.

Dr. Guangyu Tong is the director of the Cardiovascular Medicine Analytics Center (CMAC), which provides statistical analytical support within the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine. He is an associate faculty member at the Center for Methods of Implementation and Prevention Science (CMIPS). He is an experienced biostatistician specializing in both clinical trials and observational studies. His methodological research focuses on pragmatic trial design and analysis, implementation science methods, causal inference, Bayesian statistics, missing data, and meta-analysis. His empirical research spans cardiovascular medicine, gun violence, mental health, crime and delinquency, substance use disorders, genetic determinants of health, and the well-being of immigrants and minorities.