About

Rebecca Cunningham is a professor in the Division of Epidemiology & Community Health at the School of Public Health. Her research has focused on public health and injury and violence prevention, with scientific collaborations spanning engineering, communications, transportation, and public policy. She has been recognized for her contributions with awards such as the Outstanding Contribution in Research Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Excellence in Research Award from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. In 2019, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Cunningham joined the University of Michigan in 1999 as an emergency medicine physician with faculty appointments in the Medical School and the School of Public Health. In 2024, she became the system-wide president of the University of Minnesota, emphasizing accessible, world-class education and advancing the university’s mission to enhance health, safety, and prosperity.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Environmental health
• Nursing
• Developmental psychology
• Computer Security
• Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Internal medicine
• Virology
• Clinical psychology
• Demography
• Social psychology
• Criminology

Selected publications

• Multisite External Validation of a Clinical Screening Tool for Interpersonal Firearm Violence Risk

  Annals of Internal Medicine · 2026-04-06

  articleSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Screening tools for interpersonal firearm violence (FV) are needed to facilitate prevention. OBJECTIVE: To validate the 4-item, 10-point SaFETy (Serious fighting, Friend weapon carrying, community Environment, and firearm Threats) score. DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study. SETTING: 4 level 1 emergency departments (EDs) in 3 cities. PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 18 to 24 years seen in an ED for any reason. MEASUREMENTS: FV (shooting someone or being shot) 12 months after baseline from self-report and medical record review, SaFETy score, and self-reported baseline covariates (demographic characteristics; baseline assault injury; violence-related ED use in the past 6 months; drug misuse; anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress screening; and FV in the past 6 months). RESULTS: = 0.025). The added contribution of the SaFETy score to predictions based only on variables typically available at triage (demographic data, ED visit reason, and recent ED use) was larger. LIMITATION: Outcomes were primarily self-reported, and the highest-risk subsamples were more likely to have missing data. CONCLUSION: The SaFETy score predicts FV risk in general samples of young adults in the ED. A comprehensive covariate set, involving factors that are difficult or intrusive to measure, did not reproduce the SaFETy score's risk gradient or explain its discriminatory power, suggesting that the score provides distinct predictive information. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  PublisherDOI

• Efficacy of a Technology-Enhanced Behavioral Counseling Intervention for Risky Firearm Behaviors among U.S. Adolescents and Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Residential Racial Segregation and Youth Firearm Aggression: Neighborhood Disadvantage and Exposure to Violence as Mediators

  Youth & Society · 2024-05-30 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  Youth interpersonal firearm violence (e.g., homicides) disproportionately affects Black youth and contributes to racial health disparities. Institutional racial discrimination - in particular, residential racial segregation - is a determinant of racial disparities in firearm violence. Residential racial segregation, which is enforced to limit racially minoritized members to undesirable residential areas (e.g., fewer educational and employment opportunities), is associated with the socioecological risk factors of youth firearm violence (e.g., exposure to violence [ETV], neighborhood disadvantage). The socioecological mechanisms underlying the link between, however, remains unclear. Therefore, we tested the mediating role of neighborhood disadvantage (mediator 1) and ETV (mediator 2) in the association between residential racial segregation and youth firearm violence. Participants consisted of 338 Black youth who used illicit drugs in the past year and sought care in an urban emergency department. Using serial mediation analysis, residential racial segregation was indirectly associated with youth firearm violence via neighborhood disadvantage and then exposure to violence. Identifying the downstream socioecological consequences of residential segregation can inform the development of firearm violence prevention programs that address the socioecological consequences of racism.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Association Between the SaFETy Score and Self-reported Firearm Violence Among Young Adults Presenting to Emergency Departments in Three Cities: A Cross-Sectional Study

  Annals of Internal Medicine · 2024-04-22 · 10 citations

  letterOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Firearm ownership for protection in the USA, 2023: results from a nationally representative survey

  Injury Prevention · 2024-07-25 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: This study aims to characterise the motivations of firearm owners and examine whether firearm ownership motivations and carriage varied by state stand your ground law status. METHODS: Using a nationally representative survey of US adults in 2023, we asked firearm owners (n=2477) about their firearm motivations and behaviours, including reason(s) for ownership. RESULTS: Of all firearm owners, 78.8% (95% CI 76.0% to 81.0%) owned a firearm for protection, and 58.1% (95% CI 54.3% to 62.0%) carried a firearm outside their home in the last 12 months. Firearm ownership for protection was not significantly associated with stand your ground laws, but firearm carriage was more prevalent in states with stand your ground laws (50.1% (95% CI 47.0% to 53.0%) vs 34.9% (95% CI 25.0% to 46.0%)). Gender (women) and race (minority groups) emerged as key correlates for firearm ownership for protection (vs other ownership motivations). For example, black and Asian women (98.8%) almost exclusively owned firearms for protection. CONCLUSIONS: Protection was the dominant reason for firearm ownership in 2023, motivating 65 million Americans to own firearms and appealing to different strata of the population.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Association Between Community Violence Exposure and Parental Firearm Ownership: Data from a Nationally Representative Study

  Research Square · 2024-10-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ALFP Debate: Tiered Training and Licensure as a Model for the Future of Pharmacy Education

  American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education · 2024-09-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• The history of firearm injury prevention research

  Elsevier eBooks · 2024-11-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Experiencing violence and other predictors of within-person same-day use of multiple substances in youth: a longitudinal study in emergency settings

  The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse · 2024-03-03 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Tailored interventions may address gender differences in coping with experiencing violence - including interventions that promote parental support among males and reduce influence from parental substance use among females.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Association between community violence exposure and teen parental firearm ownership: data from a nationally representative study

  Injury Epidemiology · 2024-11-14 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Firearm injuries are the leading cause of death for U.S. adolescents. Given the prevalence of firearm ownership in the U.S., particularly among parental figures in homes with children and teens, and the relationship between firearm access and injury outcomes, it is vital to shed light on potential parental motivations for keeping firearms in their homes. The purpose of this analysis was to examine whether exposure to community violence is associated with parental firearm ownership. METHODS: Data from the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens Consortium's National Survey (6/24/2020-7/24/2020) was examined. The survey sample comprised parents/caregivers of high-school-age teens (age 14-18). The survey examined various measures, including firearm ownership, storage, community violence exposure, and sociodemographic characteristics. Stepwise logistic regression was used to examine the association between community violence exposure and parental firearm ownership. RESULTS: The study included 2,924 participants, with 45.1% identifying as male, 12.9% identifying as Hispanic, and 25.3% identifying as non-White. Among these participants, 43.1% reported firearm ownership, and 49.9% reported exposure to community violence. Regression models demonstrate that community violence exposure is associated with an increased likelihood of firearm ownership among parents/caregivers of high-school age teens (OR = 1.08, p < 0.05). Other significant predictors of firearm ownership among parents/caregivers included parent/caregiver age (OR = 0.99, p < 0.01), marital status (OR = 1.29, p < 0.05), and educational attainment (OR = 0.60, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The findings supported the hypothesis that community violence exposure was associated with an increased likelihood of parental firearm ownership, even after adjusting for potential confounders. These findings contribute to the existing literature by shedding light on the possible contributing factors for firearm ownership among parents/caregivers of teens. Public health interventions focused on raising awareness about the risks of firearm access in households with youths, providing counseling on locked storage practices, and offering resources for accessing secure firearm storage options, such as rapid access storage, may contribute to reducing firearm access among youth. Additionally, community-based initiatives focused on violence prevention and addressing the root causes of community violence can help create safer environments, thereby reducing the perceived need for accessible firearms in the home by parents and caregivers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• The Unviersity of Michigan Injury Center

  NIH · $5.6M · 2012–2019

• Substance use, violence and HIV risk: Age-specific risk factors and drivers of comorbidity.

  NIH · $77k · 2015–2018

• Building Research Capacity for Firearm Safety Among Children

  NIH · $4.9M · 2017–2023

• NIH Grant R01AA018122

  NIH · $3.5M · 2014

• CE19-001, University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center 2019-2024

  NIH · $4.4M · 2019–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Maureen A. Walton

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  589 shared

• Marc A. Zimmerman

  Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

  372 shared

• Patrick M. Carter

  Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

  295 shared

• Frederic C. Blow

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  233 shared

• Stephen T. Chermack

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  222 shared

• Jason E. Goldstick

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  193 shared

• Erin E. Bonar

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  102 shared

• Quyen Epstein‐Ngo

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  102 shared

Awards & honors

• Notable Leader in Higher Education, Crain’s Detroit Business…
• Outstanding Contribution in Research Award, American College…
• Excellence in Research Award, Society for Academic Emergency…
• Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2019)