PAMELA and R. CHRISTOPHER HOEHN-SARIC are passionate about the prevention of gun violence. As longtime members of the Johns Hopkins community, Pam and Chris helped launch the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions in March 2022. The goal of the center is to save lives by substantially reducing gun violence, the leading public health crisis of our time. The center’s world-renowned researchers and advocates turn research into action. As part of the #1 public health school in the country, the center is uniquely positioned to mobilize the knowledge of its team to reduce gun violence.
Pam and Chris established the Dana Feitler Professorship of the Practice in Gun Violence Prevention and Advocacy. The professorship, which co-directs the Center for Gun Violence Solutions, is named after Pamela’s sister, a kind soul and devoted sister, who was killed in an armed robbery. The Hoehn-Sarics believe that the professorship and the center’s co-directors, Josh Horwitz, a nationally recognized gun violence prevention advocate, and Cass Crifasi, an award-winning gun violence prevention researcher, will help dramatically reduce gun violence across the country.
Held by Joshua Horwitz
JOSHUA HORWITZ, JD, is the inaugural Dana Feitler Professor of the Practice in Gun Violence Prevention and Advocacy in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He also serves as co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
Horwitz is a leading gun violence prevention advocate and expert. He has spent over three decades working on gun violence prevention issues by utilizing public health research and health equity analysis to build advocacy campaigns that meet critical opportunities in the policy development process.
As part of the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, Horwitz helped develop and advance Extreme Risk Protection Order laws that allow the court to temporarily remove firearms when there are clear warning signs of imminent violence. To date, ERPO laws have been adopted in 19 states and Washington, D.C. Research shows they are effective in reducing both suicides and mass shootings.
Horwitz led the development of a bill in California that required all semi-automatic firearms made or sold in California to be micro-stamped, a technology that makes it easier for law enforcement to match cartridge casings to a firearm and its purchaser. California enacted the law in 2007, and the laws have also recently been passed in New Jersey and New York.
Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, Horwitz co-founded the Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy, a group of experts including researchers and practitioners, to advance evidence-based gun violence prevention policies. He has served as the Consortium’s director since its inception. The Consortium continues to provide recommendations that inform legislation, executive action, and policy implementation.
PAMELA and R. CHRISTOPHER HOEHN-SARIC are passionate about the prevention of gun violence. As longtime members of the Johns Hopkins community, Pam and Chris helped launch the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions in March 2022. The goal of the center is to save lives by substantially reducing gun violence, the leading public health crisis of our time. The center’s world-renowned researchers and advocates turn research into action. As part of the #1 public health school in the country, the center is uniquely positioned to mobilize the knowledge of its team to reduce gun violence.