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About the Waller Lecture

Patricia F. Waller photoThe Patricia Waller Lecture honors Dr. Patricia F. Waller (1932-2003), the founding Director of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Injury Prevention Research Center. Dr. Waller’s career combined highway safety, injury prevention, and public health, through the lens of her training and clinical expertise in psychology. She exemplified the concept of interdisciplinary collaboration and was a critical thinker whose ideas were often ahead of their time. Her many interests included driver licensing, aging and driving, heavy truck safety, alcohol and safety, and impaired driving.

Her work influenced policy and procedures for licensing young drivers throughout the world. She worked tirelessly to ensure that research findings were implemented through legislative and administrative measures and that injury prevention and public concerns were reflected in the national transportation agenda. Dr. Waller was devoted to mentoring and encouraging students and young researchers. The depth and vigor of her intellect and her passion for ensuring the policy decisions were based on science, influenced the career paths of numerous scientists.


Waller Lecture Archive

Information Systems in Motor Vehicles: How Much Tech is Too Much?

Dr. Emanuel Robinson, Westat

2019 Waller Lecture flier featuring Dr. Emanuel Robinson

Suicide Prevention is a Winnable Battle If…

Eric Caine, M.D.
John Romano Professor and Chair
Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center
Director, Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention (ICRC-S)

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Translation of Teen Driver Injury Prevention Research into Practice

Jean T. Shope, MSPH, Ph.D.
Research Professor,
University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and School of Public Health

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Changing the Code of the Street in Baltimore: Effects of a Replication of CeaseFire — A Public Health Program to Reduce Shootings

Daniel Webster, Sc.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Co-Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research

Tard Carter
Outreach Supervisor, Safe Streets East Baltimore

Embedding Child-Maltreatment Prevention in a Population Approach to Parenting and Family Support

Ron Prinz, Ph.D.
Professor and Director, Parenting Family Research Center
University of South Carolina

Pediatric Injury Prevention: From the Trenches to the Ivory Tower and Back Again

Andrea C. Gielen, ScD
Professor and Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

The Power of Social versus Financial Factors in Behavior Change

Dr. Robert B. Cialdini
Professor of Psychology and Marketing, Department of Psychology
Arizona State University

Psychological Consequences of Hurricane Katrina

Dr. Russell T. Jones
Professor of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Highway Safety, Public Health, and Human Behavior

Dr. Lindsay Griffin
Former Director, Center for Transportation Safety at the Texas Transportation Institute

On the Shoulders of Giants

Dr. Susan Baker
Founding Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy

Reflections on the Highway Safety Field

Dr. Alan Williams
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety