Two UW Epidemiology PhD Candidates Receive $50,000 Grants for Firearm Violence Research

Two University of Washington Epidemiology PhD candidates are advancing research to better understand and prevent firearm violence, with each receiving a $50,000 grant from the Black & Brown Collective for Community Solutions to Gun Violence. 

Hiwot Weldemariam and Olivia McCollum, who are also researchers at UW’s Center for Firearm Injury Prevention (C-FIP), were among 16 projects selected for funding. Their research explores two important aspects of firearm violence: supporting survivors and their families through recovery, and understanding how community-based programs can help prevent future violence. 

Both projects center the experiences of people most affected by firearm violence, with the goal of informing more responsive care and strengthening community-driven prevention efforts. 

Exploring how community violence intervention creates change  

McCollum’s project, Diving Deeper: Exploring How Community Violence Intervention Shifts Participants’ Mindset and Behavior, focuses on Deep Dive, a King County program administered by Community Passageways, a restorative justice-based youth development and violence prevention organization. Deep Dive supports young men ages 15-27 at high risk of involvement in firearm violence through one-on-one mentorship with ambassadors who have similar lived experiences. 

Deep Dive ambassadors will interview program alumni to understand how participants’ attitudes, decisions, and behaviors change over time. The project will explore how trusted relationships, trauma-informed support, and personal agency may influence these changes. 

“The opportunity to learn from and work alongside Deep Dive’s ambassadors in this project is what excites me most, and what makes this project so unique,” McCollum said. “I am so grateful that this funding will allow us to further our community partnership with Community Passageways and support their critical work uplifting safety and connection throughout King County.” 

Understanding recovery after firearm injury  

Weldemariam’s project, Beyond Survival: A Mixed-Methods Study of Pre-Injury Risk, Recovery, and Barriers to Care Among African Firearm Injury Survivors and Their Families at a Level I Trauma Center, will examine recovery experiences among African immigrant and African-descent firearm injury survivors and their families in Washington state. 

For Weldemariam, this is an important opportunity to move beyond documenting firearm injuries to understanding their longer-term impact on individuals, families, and communities. Combining healthcare data with interviews, the project will explore how language barriers, immigration-related stress, structural racism, cultural beliefs, and trust in healthcare systems shape recovery and access to care. Findings could inform more culturally responsive healthcare and violence prevention efforts. 

“My hope is that this partnership will not only help us better understand the challenges our communities face but also work together to identify practical, community-driven solutions that can make a lasting difference,” Weldemariam said.