About Us

Who We Are

Welcome to the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, a worldwide leader in researching how people suffer injuries and what can be done to prevent them.  Founded in 1985, the Center is one of 12 injury-control centers supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the country. We are affiliated with the University of Washington and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Our 40 full-time faculty and staff are devoted to conducting research, education and prevention programs aimed at diminishing the personal impact of trauma, and broadening the effectiveness of injury prevention and treatment programs regionally and nationally.

Who We Serve                                                         

The Center directs its research and programs towards those groups at greatest risk of injury: children, the elderly, the poor, people of color, and residents of rural areas. The goal is to reduce the rates of injury and death among these groups from unintentional events such as car crashes and drownings, and from purposeful acts such as suicide and murder. Efforts span the continuum of medical care, from epidemiological research to determine injury causes, to acute care of trauma patients, to rehabilitation in the hospital and home.

What We Do                                                                        

The Center is divided into five sections of injury-control specialty: Injury Prevention, Acute Care, Biomechanics, Epidemiology and Rehabilitation. In each area, we pursue the following goals:                                               

• Track the type, causes, treatment and consequences of injuries
• Use epidemiological tools to identify risk factors for injury
• Develop and evaluate new injury-prevention programs, using behavior change, community education, government action, and product environment modification
• Use the principles of biomechanics to study injury causes and treatment
• Develop more effective ways to resuscitate and treat injury victims
• Improve rehabilitation strategies by identifying injury-related disability and long-term effects
• Train new investigators in injury research
• Educate health professionals, policy makers, and the public about trauma’s magnitude, costs, and prevention