The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded funding for a CNTR conference, titled Summit on the Advancement of Focused Equity Research in Trauma (SAFER-Trauma). The goal of the summit is to help the trauma research community identify and characterize current gaps in trauma health disparities research, define funding mechanisms and pathways for collaboration, and outline a research agenda targeted at reducing and eliminating health disparities in trauma care.
Designed by CNTR’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EDIC), SAFER-Trauma will convene thought leaders on innovations related to gun violence prevention, injury prevention, and the promise of GIS systems and Artificial Intelligence to identify and address disparities. In working breakout sessions, conference participants will flesh out a research action plan and ascertain nontraditional research collaborators. Final deliverables will include paper themes to be developed into journal submissions, and a plan for dissemination and advocacy.
“The trauma community has done excellent research to describe disparities in trauma care, but eliminating these disparities will take new and innovative ideas, thoughtfully designed research, and steadfast teamwork. The trauma community is a formidable force when

Vanessa Ho, MD, Conference PI
we work together. Our committee was inspired to bring people together with this mission,” said Vanessa Ho, MD, chair of the CNTR EDIC and a trauma surgeon and Associate Professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “It speaks to the salience and urgency of this topic that we received funding with our initial submission, and we’re eager to contribute significantly to the national conversation and action agenda.”
SAFER-Trauma will be held at the American College of Surgeons in Chicago, IL, on August 2-3, 2023. Information about the conference speaker line-up will be publicized in the coming weeks. To Register, CLICK HERE.
A number of travel awards will be made available to early-career investigators with an interest in disparities research. To apply for a travel award, CLICK HERE.
To review our sponsorship opportunities, CLICK HERE. If you’d like to sponsor, click on DONATE, enter your information, and indicate “SAFER-Trauma Sponsorship” in the Donor Comment section.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is one of 12 agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to produce evidence that makes health care safer, of higher quality, and more accessible, equitable and affordable.
For more information about the Coalition for National Trauma Research and its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, visit NatTrauma.org.