More health system leaders have joined a coalition to address gun violence.
The leaders are members of the National Health Care CEO Council on Gun Violence Prevention & Safety, which is united to tackle the issue.
Council members have signed the following promise: "Guns are now the leading cause of death for kids. This needs to change. As healthcare leaders, we pledge to use the collective power of our voices and resources to curb this epidemic, and make our communities safer for everyone."
This pledge includes supporting public education and awareness campaigns, working with local violence intervention groups and pursuing research and other initiatives, according to a Feb. 23 news release.
Among the council members is Michael Dowling, president and CEO of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, whose organization has been committed to addressing gun violence as a public health crisis, partly through the health system's Center for Gun Violence Prevention. In February, Northwell also hosted its fourth annual Gun Violence Prevention Forum, which was attended by a number of council members.
A Northwell spokesperson told Becker's Nov. 8 the council has started communications workgroups to look at an expanded public awareness campaign on gun violence prevention.
CEOs who have most recently joined the council:
- Airica Steed, EdD, RN, president and CEO of MetroHealth (Cleveland)
- Bryan Kelly, MD/Louis Shapiro, CEO of Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City) Note: Dr. Kelly succeeded Mr. Shapiro on Sept. 5.
- Laura Kaiser, president and CEO of SSM Health (St. Louis)
- Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN, president and CEO of WellSpan Health (York, Pa.)
- Eric Dickson, MD, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health (Worcester, Mass.)
- Deborah Weymouth, CEO of Eastern Connecticut Health Network (Hartford)
- Donna Lynne, DrPH, CEO of Denver Health
Other council members:
- Jason Little, president and CEO of Baptist Memorial Health Care (Memphis, Tenn.)
- Tommy Ibrahim, MD, president and CEO of Bassett Healthcare Network (Cooperstown, N.Y.)
- Richard Liekweg, president and CEO of BJC HealthCare (St. Louis)
- Alastair Bell, MD, president and interim CEO of the Boston Medical Center Health System
- Nancy Howell Agee, president and CEO of Carilion Clinic (Roanoke, Va.)
- Marcel Loh, president and CEO of CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (Los Angeles)
- Chris Durovich, president and CEO of Children's Health (Dallas)
- Madeline Bell, president and CEO of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
- Kurt Newman, MD, president and CEO of Children's National Hospital (Washington, D.C.)
- Peggy Troy, president and CEO of Children's Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
- Janice Nevin, MD, president and CEO of ChristianaCare (Newark, Del.)
- Steve Davis, MD, president and CEO of Cincinnati Children's
- Tom Mihaljevic, MD, CEO and president and Morton L. Mandel CEO chair of Cleveland Clinic
- Wright Lassiter III, CEO of CommonSpirit Health (Chicago)
- Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health (Grand Rapids and Southfield, Mich.)
- Joanne Conroy, MD, president and CEO of Dartmouth Health (Lebanon, N.H.)
- Catherine Jacobson, president and CEO of Froedtert Health (Milwaukee)
- Robert Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.)
- Jeffrey Flaks, president and CEO of Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare
- Rob Allen, president and CEO of Intermountain Health (Salt Lake City)
- Joseph Cacchione, MD, CEO of Jefferson Health (Philadelphia)
- Kevin Sowers, MSN, RN, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore)
- Greg Adams, chair and CEO of Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.)
- Rodney Hanners, CEO of Keck Medicine of USC (Los Angeles)
- John Fernandez, president and CEO of Lifespan (Providence, R.I.)
- Tom Shanley, MD, president and CEO of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
- John J. (Jack) Lynch III, president and CEO of Main Line Health (Radnor Township, Pa.)
- Anne Klibanski, MD, president and CEO of Mass General Brigham (Somerville, Mass.)
- Kenneth Samet, president and CEO of MedStar Health (Columbia, Md.)
- Marschall Runge, MD, PhD, CEO of Michigan Medicine (Ann Arbor)
- Michael Salem, MD, president and CEO of National Jewish Health (Denver)
- Steven Corwin, MD, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian (New York City)
- Gerald "J.P." Gallagher, president and CEO of NorthShore – Edward-Elmhurst Health (Evanston, Ill.)
- Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health
- Mitchell Katz, MD, president and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals
- Stephen Markovich, MD, president and CEO of OhioHealth (Columbus)
- Kevin Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System (Philadelphia)
- Brian Erling, MD, president and CEO of Renown Health (Reno, Nev.)
- Omar Lateef, DO, president and CEO of Rush University System for Health (Chicago)
- Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health (San Diego)
- Mike Slubowski, president and CEO of Trinity Health (Livonia, Mich.)
- Michael Dandorph, president and CEO of Tufts Medicine (Burlington, Mass.)
- Tom Jackiewicz, president of the University of Chicago Medical Center and COO of the UChicago Medicine health system
- Steve Goldstein, president and CEO of University of Rochester Medical Center's Strong Memorial Hospital
- Diane Hupp, president of UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
- Christopher O'Connor, president and CEO of Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health
- Marc Gorelick, MD, president and CEO of Children's Minnesota (Minneapolis)
Learn more about the council here.