SAFE November Newsletter

Table of Contents

Recap - Firearm Injury Prevention and Care Curriculum Symposium at Medical College of Wisconsin
Announcing - Firearm Injury Prevention and Care Curriculum Symposium at UCSF
Chapter Spotlight: Rush Medical College
Register for Spring StandSAFE
2025 National Research Conference for Firearm-Related Harms - Tempe, AZ
Support SAFE! There are many ways to support SAFE!

Recap - Firearm Injury Prevention and Care Curriculum Symposium at Medical College of Wisconsin

Twenty-seven individuals from ten medical schools in five states came together at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) on October 17 & 18 to work together to develop an effective and culturally responsive curriculum. The curriculum will equip future physicians to address the multifaceted issue of firearm injury and death. Dr. Stephen Hargarten of MCW is pictured in the lower left corner of the photo.

Symposium attendees were faculty, who work in curriculum development or medical education, physicians and medical students, who are already champions for and/or passionate about firearm injury prevention education and care. Dr. Chris Torkilsen from MCW pictured.

The symposium was co-led by Dr. James Bigham (pictured standing) of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health & Vice Chair of SAFE. The symposium inspired SAFE to continue holding in-person symposium workshops on advancing firearm injury prevention curriculum until 100% of medical schools and institutions prepare their physicians and trainees to talk with patients about this important topic.

A special thank you to Drs. Patrick Carter, Sehr Kahn, Kellie Snooks, Traci Kurtzer, and Ken Simons for presenting at the symposium. We are extremely grateful for your work and involvement.

If you are inspired by this important work, please consider making a donation - of any size - to SAFE. The critical work of bringing a collaborative symposium on firearm injury prevention education to medical schools across the country, needs financial support.

A donation of $12.50/month will qualify you for a free SAFE scrub top!

A donation of $83.33/month will earn your spot in The SAFE One Thousand, a small but growing circle of individuals who make a significant impact with their support.

SUPPORT THIS WORK

Announcing - Firearm Injury Prevention and Care Curriculum Symposium at
UCSF March 2026

If you work on curriculum and/or are passionate about incorporating firearm injury prevention and care into a standardized curriculum at your institution, register to join us for our third Firearm Injury Prevention and Care Curriculum Symposium at the University of California - San Francisco (Parnassus Campus) on March 13-14, 2026.

Symposium attendees will primary be from California, and will hear from various stakeholders such as community violence interruption workers, suicide prevention researchers and individuals impacted by firearm violence. We will actively engage with medical students and firearm violence survivors to understand perspectives and perceived educational needs in Firearm Injury Prevention and Care education.

Free to attend, but registrants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodations. We are hoping to offer Continuing Medical Education (CME) but are not yet ready to confirm that.

To register click the button below.

Chapter Spotlight: Rush Medical College

A special shoutout to the SAFE Chapter at Rush Medical College for their incredible work this past summer. They have been busy partaking in our pilot Firearm Safes and Locks Project.

Learn more about how you or your SAFE chapter can participate in the Firearm Safes and Locks Project.

LEARN MORE

Here is a short recap of the SAFE Rush Chapter’s Summer:

May:
- Initiated a program to distribute firearm locks in the Emergency Department at Rush. Distributed 15 locks within one hour.
June:
- Trialed a firearm safety training in coordination with Rush 911.
- SAFE Chapter Leader, Kenneth Pham, presented at Healthy Hood, a grassroots community health organization (run by a staff member at Rush) that provides education and health services to predominantly minority children in the West Side of Chicago. At that event he distributed 27 firearm locks.
August:
- SAFE Chapter faculty advisor distributed firearm locks at the Chicago Bud Billiken Day Parade.

Register for Spring StandSAFE Event

Register to Attend below:

Thursday, April 16th, 2026 at 8pm EST/5 pm PST

Gun or firearm?

Gun violence or firearm injuries?

Safe storage or secure storage? What’s the difference?

We will hear from Drs. James Bigham and Ted Corbin. They will be discussing the use of trauma informed care and culturally competent language when discussing firearms. Click the button below and register today.

2025 National Research Conference for the Prevention Firearm-Related Harms - Temple, AZ

SAFE will be attending the 2025 National Research Conference for Firearm-Related Harms in Tempe, Arizona, on November 19-21, 2026. If you are attending, stop by the SAFE table and say hello! SAFE’s Executive Director, Allison Volkman will be there to meet you, along with several other SAFE Directors, who are attending the conference.

Many Ways to Support SAFE

This has been a year of growth for SAFE! We hosted two in-person curriculum-building collaborative symposiums in our Educating Healthcare Professionals work, and designed two additional national campaigns from the ground up: Education on Policy Solutions and the Firearm Safes and Locks Project. In 2025, SAFE hosted nationally acclaimed authors and physicians and passionate medical students who had conversations that inspired medical students, residents, physicians, researchers and policy solutions professionals.

Please, help this work continue!

If you are a medical student, consider making a $5/month donation. Please be one of the 100 medical students to make this happen, (that’s our goal!) which will pay for an entire in-person collaborative workshop, hosted at a medical school ($6,000).
A donation of $83.33/month will earn your spot in The SAFE One Thousand. So will a one-time donation of $1,000. There are over 200 medical schools in the country, and we aim to invite 100% of them to collaborate on firearm injury prevention curriculum and education.
If you are inspired by the SAFE board member who forwarded his $10,000 stipend to SAFE to support the work of firearm injury prevention education, please join him! What a unique and impactful way to donate.

For some, it has been a good year. If financially, it has for you as well, and you have the means to make a major donation of $10,000 or more, please call or text Allison Volkman (SAFE’s Exec. Dir) at 312-282-3364 or email her at avolkman@standsafe.org to connect! She can answer questions you may have.

Thank you for considering, and for partnering with SAFE.

You can see SAFE’s full list of the previous year’s donors here: https://www.standsafe.org/thanks-to-our-donors

Gifts to SAFE are tax-deductible as permitted by law.
Our Tax ID No. is 85-4148883

DONATE HERE

Rather send a personal check?
Please mail it to the address below.