Arthur Kellermann

Arthur Kellermann

Dr. Arthur L. Kellermann, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.E.P. (born 1955) was recently named the Director of RAND Health. He was the founding chairman of the department of Emergency Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and founding director of the Center for Injury Control at Rollins School of Public Health, a collaborating center for injury and violence prevention of the World Health Organization. His writings include more than 200 scientific and lay publications on various aspects of emergency cardiac care, health services research, injury prevention and the role of emergency departments in the provision of health care to the poor.

Kellermann co-chaired the Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance of the Institute of Medicine of the United States National Academies, of which he is an elected member. Kellermann holds career achievement awards for excellence in science from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, and the Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section of the American Public Health Association. As a 2006-2007 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, he joined the Professional Staff of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Washington, D.C. In 2007 he was presented with the John G. Wiegenstein Leadership Award by the American College of Emergency Physicians, their highest award.

Kellermann is well known for his research on the epidemiology of firearm related injuries and deaths. In a 1995 interview, Kellermann saw firearm and other injuries not as random, unavoidable acts but as preventable public health priorities: "I grew up around guns. My dad taught me how to shoot when I was eleven or twelve years old. Firearms are fascinating pieces of equipment. I enjoy the sport of shooting, although I rarely shoot anymore. However, as a clinician, as someone who is committed to emergency medicine, it is equally evident to me that firearm violence is wreaking havoc on public health."

In this polarized debate, Kellermann’s studies quantifying the risk of mortality associated with gun ownership attracted criticism from pro-gun organizations and individuals. The National Rifle Association of America contends that Dr Kellermann “severely understates defensive uses of guns,” and that his “conclusions provide anti-gunners propaganda.” Kellermann’s findings have been linked to the June 1996 Republican-led decision of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee to strip US$2.6 million from the budget of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control – the exact amount previously set aside for NCIPC/CDC research into the causes and effects of firearm-related death and injury.