Original Release Date: February 19, 2021
In episode five of the 2021 Illicit Substance Use Response season, Just Science interviews Dr. Mallory O’Brien, Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, to discuss how partnerships can enhance Overdose Fatality Reviews.
The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) is the only state-based reporting system that covers all types of violent deaths, including homicides and suicides. It pools more than 600 unique data elements from multiple sources into an anonymous, usable database. Dr. Mallory O’Brien used her experience with NVDRS to improve the overdose fatality review process.
Listen along as she discusses leveraging partnerships to enhance overdose fatality reviews, their impact on communities with substance abuse problems, and the historical context that led to fatality reviews in this episode of Just Science.
This season is in collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Assistance Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program funding to respond to illicit substance use and misuse in order to reduce overdose deaths, promote public safety, and support access to services.
This episode of Just Science is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence [Award 2016-MU-BX-K110].
View or download the episode transcript here:
Transcript
Guest Biography
Dr. Mallory O’Brien is the Founding Director of the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission (MHRC) and DataShare as well as an Assistant Professor with Institute for Health & Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. O’Brien has a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and has worked as a researcher with public health, community and criminal justice partners in Milwaukee for the past 14 years. She has led the development, implementation and expansion of the MHRC since its inception. The MHRC has been systematically collecting comprehensive data from the criminal justice community on homicides since 2005 and non-fatal shootings since 2006. She is currently the Project Director for a USDOJ COPS grant to create a homicide review technical assistance manual and train 96 jurisdictions in the homicide review process. The data reports for the MHRC can be found online at milwaukee.gov/hrc. Dr. O’Brien leads the development of DataShare, an integrated data system for Milwaukee, linking public health, public safety and education data to improve the lives of Milwaukee residents. Additionally, she is Co-PI on two NIJ funded grants one on nonfatal shootings, the second developing Sentinel Event Review.
The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this podcast episode are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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