U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein visited the UCLA campus March 27 to convene a roundtable on gun violence prevention with Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, academic experts, medical professionals and community members.
Feinstein sought the expertise of a number of people, including UCLA physicians, victims of gun violence and advocacy groups.
“That’s the job in front of us, to do something about it,” she announced to the group of about 15 as the meeting convened. “We thought it would be good to pull people together and have this roundtable.”
“We believe (gun violence) is a public health issue that needs a bipartisan solution,” said Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health and CEO of the UCLA Hospital System. “We’re glad Sen. Feinstein is here today and that UCLA is part of this discussion.”
The group examined gun violence prevention from a number of angles including school shootings, domestic violence, PTSD issues for survivors, violence as a public health issue, and the impact various weapons have on human tissue.
“All of us who have been focused on this issue for a long time have been talking about this as a public health and not just public safety issue,” Feuer said of tackling the issue from a number of perspectives. “The energy and focus we could bring to this sparks something in all of us.”
The roundtable also included:
• Dr. Rochelle Dicker, UCLA Health trauma surgeon
• Dr. David Eisenman, Professor and Director of the Center for Public Health and Disasters, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
• Dr. Roger Lewis, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
• Dr. Kelsey Martin, Dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
• La’shea Cretain, gun control advocate and gun violence survivor
• Shannon Crouch, co-events lead and legislative lead for Moms Demand Action
• Deborah Nelson, former school principal
• Amy Phillips, state communications lead for Moms Demand Action
• Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Dean of Charles Drew University School of Medicine
• Laurie Saffian, chair of Women Against Gun Violence
• Angélica Salazar, director of education equity at Children’s Defense Fund – California
• Josh Stepakoff, board member of Women Against Gun violence and gun violence survivor
• Paul Wilson, gun control advocate and gun violence victim