Thread by @meganranney, Almost a week ago, I was honored to receive one of a [...]

Almost a week ago, I was honored to receive one of a very few @cdcgov grants to study the #publichealth approach to firearm injury prevention.

I've been waiting to tweet about it, because I wanted to create the best possible tweet.

But that will never happen. So instead:

I am SO FRICKING EXCITED AND PROUD.

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/funded-research.html

Some background:

I started doing this work because people told me it couldn't be done. "Firearm injury prevention was pointless" or "partisan" or not fundable. Thanks to the Dickey Amendment, the CDC hadn't funded firearm injury research since *1996*.

But instead of listening, I started organizing.

I organized within medicine.
I organized outside of medicine.
I gave talk after talk with my dear friend @EmmyBetz, slowly changing hearts & minds to think "maybe we really CAN prevent this epidemic"

Then, in 2017, I co-founded @ResearchAFFIRM with a fellow physician (& gun owner), to prove the #publichealth approach could work.

We KNEW we could decrease #gunviolence just as we decreased car crash deaths. It just took $ & time. https://www.ted.com/talks/megan_ranney_how_the_public_health_approach_can_solve_gun_violence

How the public health approach can solve gun violence

"That young man taught me that most of what I thought I knew about gun violence, was actually a myth," says emergency physician and AFFIRM Chief Research Officer Dr. Megan Ranney. In this inspiring...

https://www.ted.com/talks/megan_ranney_how_the_public_health_approach_can_solve_gun_violence

One year later, we led #ThisIsOurLane, developing the ground-breaking letter that received more than 40K signatories in just days.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/11/10/health-care-professionals-nra-help-us-reduce-gun-deaths-column/1956288002/ @scrubbedin @darakass

Medical professionals to NRA: Guns are our lane. Help us reduce deaths or move over.

The NRA should work with us to reduce the death toll from guns. We bear witness to this devastating epidemic. We're not-anti-gun, we're anti-bullet hole.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/11/10/health-care-professionals-nra-help-us-reduce-gun-deaths-column/1956288002/

And I was honored to collaborate with dozens of similarly ground-breaking researchers & visionaries through @FACTS_Safety and @WYCDinitiative, to keep pushing the envelope and proving WE COULD DO THIS.

So: Receiving this grant means SO MUCH to me.

It's proof that fighting for what you believe in, works.

It's proof that good consistent #scicomm & community-building creates change.

It validates @henrytimms "New Power": the difference that 1000s of voices can make, in unison.

And it gives us the chance to show that the underlying idea - of community involvement, narrative, & engagement - works.

We will be testing the efficacy of our REFRAME model with youth Shooting Sports Clubs across the country.

We are walking the walk.

(Side note: As I discussed with @cwarzel a few months back, there are ALL THE PARALLELS between our work on #gunviolence and #covid19. I cut my teeth on this topic. It is what made me ready for this moment. Another, longer thread to come.)

Anyhow: thank you @4H @ResearchAFFIRM @LMOrchowski @NicoleNugentPhD @Rsbeidas @EmmyBetz @amybphd for your partnership.

And congrats too to all my friends & colleagues who ALSO got CDC grants.

THE FIRST TIME IN 24 YEARS!!!!!!

Together, we will save lives.

TL/DR: Don't give up.

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