Virginia Tech Professor Russell Jones Heads Subcommittee of National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

Russell Jones of Blacksburg and a professor of psychology in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, now heads a subcommittee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Jones, who conducts research on helping children and families cope with tragedies, was appointed to a one-year term as chair of the Science and Program Review Subcommittee (SPRS) of the Advisory Committee for Injury Prevention and Control's (ACIPC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). ACIPC "provides second-level scientific and programmatic review for applications for research grants, cooperative agreements, and training grants related to injury control and violence prevention and recommends approval of projects that merit further consideration for funding support," according to Iris Lansing of NCIPC. "The committee also recommends areas of research to be supported by contracts and cooperative agreements and provides concept review of program proposals and announcements."

The subcommittee, SPRS, "makes recommendations regarding individual injury research proposals, Injury Control Research Center applications, and Small Business Innovation Research applications forwarded for consideration by the National Institutes of Health," Lansing said.

In the past year, SPRS considered proposals dealing with acute care, rehabilitation and disability-prevention research, violence-related injury-prevention research such as intimate-partner violence and sexual violence, and other related matters, including training awards and dissertation awards for doctoral candidates, Lansing said.

Other areas of consideration by the subcommittee included community-based interventions to reduce motor vehicle-related injuries, improving smoke-alarm maintenance, and development and validation of measures to assess outcomes of mild traumatic brain injury.

Jones will oversee the work of the subcommittee, including requesting comments from the executive secretary and the public and calling for a vote on the proposal under consideration. He also votes as a tiebreaker when needed. His first goal, he said, is to assist the group in developing guidelines for standardized practices and methods for injury research. His second goal is "to continue to build research infrastructure within the center with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, Terrorism Disaster Branch."

"It is hoped," Jones said, "that through this developing collaboration, the goal of promoting the well-being of children and families by strengthening our nation's preparedness and response to terrorism and disaster will be achieved."

Future steps may include building an infrastructure and identifying important topics for conducting short-term research before, during, and after terrorism events, as well as identifying research gaps and building a research agenda.

Jones has worked in conjunction with the CDC on other projects and, in his position as a member of the Terrorism and Disaster Branch of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, coordinated several meetings with members of the CDC.

Jones received his Ph.D. and master's degree from Pennsylvania State University, and a bachelor's degree from Western Michigan University.