Gary Slutkin, MD
Dr. Gary Slutkin is a physician and epidemiologist and the Founder and Executive Director of Cure Violence, a scientifically proven, public health approach to violence reduction which uses behavior change and epidemic control methods. Cure Violence has been statistically demonstrated to reduce shootings and killings by up to 41% to 73% by four extensive independently funded and independently performed studies � by the U.S. Department of Justice, Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and others. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., referred to Cure Violence as "a rational, data-driven, evidence-based, smart approach (to reducing violence)" The World in 2009 edition of The Economist heralded CureViolence as "the approach that will come to prominence." In 2013, Cure Violence was named one of the 10 best non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the world by the Global Journal � and listed first among organizations dedicated to reducing violence.
Dr. Slutkin is a Professor of Epidemiology and International Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a senior advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), a global Ashoka fellow, and the 2009 Winner of the Search for Common Ground Award. He received his M.D. from the University of Chicago Pritzker School Of Medicine, and completed his internship, residency, and infectious disease training at UCSF/San Francisco General Hospital. Before working on reducing violence, Dr. Slutkin ran the Tuberculosis (TB) Program for San Francisco (1981- 5); moved to Somalia to work on TB and cholera epidemics (1985-7); and was then recruited by the World Health Organization where he worked from 1987 to 1994 in over 20 countries, including leading the efforts � using behavior change methods - to reverse the AIDS epidemic in Uganda. He was then appointed Director of Intervention Development for WHO (global).
Dr. Slutkin sees violence as a contagious process, which has now been confirmed by the most recent Institute of Medicine Report, The Contagion of Violence. Cure Violence has been designed to be complementary and synergistic with law enforcement efforts towards enhanced effects at community level.
The Cure Violence method is working in over 60 communities in 25 cities in the U.S. and in countries on three continents including programs in the UK, Jamaica, Trinidad, Honduras, Brazil, South Africa and Iraq. Cure Violence is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the World Bank, the Inter American Development Bank (IDB), and multiple national, international and local foundations and city, state and federal governments.
Dr. Slutkin's work has been featured in The Interrupters, a documentary film about the work of Cure Violence, most recently in NIcholas Kristof and Cheryl WuDunn's book, A Path Appears, and has won numerous national and international awards including the Attorney General's Award for Outstanding Contributions to Community Partnerships for Public Safety.