Dr. Jessica Beard and Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University Researchers Examine Firearm-Injured Patient Clusters at Philadelphia-Area Hospitals

Jessica H. Beard, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM), led a research team that set out to calculate the number and analyze trends in the rates of firearm-injured patients taken at clustered time intervals to Philadelphia-area hospitals over 11 years. The results, which found that those hospitals responded to the equivalent of 54 mass shooting-type events during that period, were published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Other LKSOM researchers involved in the study included Drs. Amy J. Goldberg, Lars O. Sjoholm and Zoe Maher. Billy Penn interviewed Dr. Beard about the findings. HealthExec, Forensic Magazine, Scienmag, Bioengineer.org, Medical Xpress and others also picked up the announcement.