Join us Wednesday, November 28 at 2:00pm ET for a live, interactive TweetChat on gun violence as a public health issue with American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine Chief Research Officer Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, and Society of Behavioral Medicine President Sherry Pagoto, PhD. Topics to be discussed are subject to change but will likely include:

  • Thoughts about calling gun violence a “public health” problem; whether this is or is not helpful, and why.
  • The extent to which “gun violence” is similar or different from suicide prevention or assault prevention.
  • The most important research questions to tackle in this area, as little progress has been made in gun violence research.
  • Whether public health professionals should partner with gun owners and others who are worried about losing their Second Amendment rights, and if so, how.
  • The most impactful thing chat participants have learned in their professions about the impact of gun violence that they wish others knew.
  • How researchers, practitioners, or anyone interested in this topic can help “move the needle”/join the cause/help get more research started in this area.
  • More…

How to Join the Chat

  1. Log into your Twitter account. Don’t have an account? Where have you been?! Just kidding, we don’t judge, but you should get one! It’s easy to create, and free. You’ll be glad you did.
  2. A couple minutes before 2:00pm ET on November 28, Search Twitter (top right of every Twitter page) for #PWChat or #BehavioralMedChat.
  3. On the search results page, click Latest at the top left. This will show you all the latest tweets using the #PWChat or #BehavioralMedChat hashtags. The page will automatically update every couple minutes, letting you know how many new tweets there are using the #PWChat or #BehavioralMedChat hashtags. Alternately, you can refresh the page every minute or so to see any new tweets using the #PWChat or #BehavioralMedChat hashtags.
  4. Answer questions, reply to other’s comments, or make a comment of your own as much and as often as you like. VERY IMPORTANT: be sure to leave room to include BOTH #PWChat and #BehavioralMedChat to ensure that what you tweet is included in the chat. Otherwise, it won’t be seen.
  5. While you’re at it, be sure to follow @physicianswkly, @DrSherryPagoto, @meganranney, @SBMPresident, and @BehavioralMed .

About Dr. Ranney

Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brown University; the Founding Director or Emergency Digital Health Innovation at Brown University; and the Chief Research Officer at the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM). Dr. Ranney has over a decade of expertise in developing and testing technology-based violence prevention and mental health interventions for high-risk patients. Her work has been funded by NIH, PCORI, and through private-public partnerships. She serves as an elected member of the Board of Directors of Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Chair of her Governor’s Working Group on Gun Safety, and as an editor for Annals of Emergency Medicine. She also leads courses for undergraduates and medical students at Brown University. She has received numerous awards for technology innovation, public health, and research. She is active on Twitter @meganranney.

About Dr. Pagoto

Sherry Pagoto, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences and Director of the UConn Center for mHealth and Social Media. She is also a licensed clinical psychologist and President of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Her research focuses on leveraging technology, especially social media to deliver behavior change interventions and/or disseminate public health messaging for health promotion and disease prevention. She has had federal funding for her program of research for 15 consecutive years and has published over 185 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Devoted to science communication, she has 24k followers on Twitter and is a contributor to US News and World Report, Med City News, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, Salon, The Conversation, STAT News, Psychology Today, and KevinMD. Her work has been featured in major news outlets including CNN, NPR, NBC News, ABC News, and Good Morning America. You can find her on Twitter at @DrSherryPagoto.

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