Marian (Emmy) Betz is an emergency physician and nationally recognized leader in firearm injury-prevention research. She serves as the Principal Investigator for multiple complex studies utilizing qualitative and quantitative methods, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and numerous foundations. She also has a long record of accomplishment in community-focused firearm suicide prevention efforts, including co-founding and leading the Colorado Firearm Safety Coalition.

Her prior work has also involved development of multiple web-based resources or interventions related to firearm injury prevention. She has served as a Commissioner with the Colorado Suicide Prevention Commission and with numerous national organizations and workgroups, including the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS) and the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine. 

As the Director and Founder of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative, Dr. Betz is committed to facilitating and expanding collaborative approaches to firearm injury prevention in Colorado and nationally. Further, she is passionate about the Initiative’s efforts to expand research on how to effectively prevent all types of firearm harms and to support the growth of the firearm injury prevention field.  

Jessica Buck-Atkinson has been with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus since 2021 and began supporting the development of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative (FIPI) in late 2022. She has over a decade of experience in injury and violence prevention, including firearm injury, school and community violence, and suicide prevention. 

Jessica brings a strong background in implementation and evaluation research, resource development, and strategic partnership building across local, state, and national levels. Jessica has managed and contributed to numerous state and federally funded projects focused on implementation science, evaluation, and systems change – many of which have included the development of relevant, accessible tools and resources for practitioners.

As Associate Director of FIPI, Jessica leverages her expertise in project management, translational research, and stakeholder engagement to guide the initiative’s growth and impact. In her role she leads strategic efforts to further establish FIPI as leader in bridging research and practice, centering the lived experiences of impacted communities, and fostering partnerships across ideological and sectoral divides.

Erin Kelly has over 15 years of experience in public health research and practice, specializing in firearm injury prevention, suicide and violence prevention, and upstream prevention. She uses community-engaged and mixed methods approaches in her research and has extensive experience in translating, disseminating, and supporting the implementation of evidence-based strategies, programs, and policies into practice environments. 

As the Director of Practice, Dr. Kelly leads efforts to build firearm injury data infrastructure, guides translational and dissemination efforts to ensure effective strategies can be used by practitioners and impacted communities, and oversees the development and growth of FIPI programs, such as SafeHomesCO and FIP-LEAD.

Chris Knoepke is a social work scientist and educator at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he has been since 2016. He uses qualitative and mixed-method approaches to develop and test person-centered approaches to tackle emotionally challenging or technologically complex topics, with a history of funding that includes the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and several national foundations. 

As the Director of Strategy for the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative, Dr. Knoepke identifies opportunities to grow FIPI, and the field of firearm injury prevention broadly. His focus includes linking research and training opportunities with faculty and students, identifying external collaborative opportunities with key people and organizations involved in firearms safety and injury prevention, and identify strategic opportunities for FIPI’s growth and ongoing impact.

Joseph Simonetti, MD, MPH is a dually boarded internal medicine and addiction medicine physician and principal investigator at the Denver-Seattle COIN and VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center for Suicide Prevention. He is also the Director of Education for the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine and Assistant Director of Education and Training for the Injury and Violence Prevention Center at the Colorado School of Public Health.

His primary research focus is on firearm injury prevention, with a specific emphasis on veteran firearm suicide prevention. His works spans a variety of methodologies and approaches, including epidemiologic and health services studies, qualitative methodology, large data approaches, informatics and AI research, as well as clinical trial development, implementation, and evaluation. He is one of the leading national experts on firearm suicide prevention, specifically among Veterans. 

As Director of Education for the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative, Dr. Simonetti is committed to developing and implementing novel approaches to training clinicians and community members to deliver evidence-informed interventions to reduce the burden of firearm injury among Americans.

*Faculty position also supported by the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative.