Michael Clery, MD, will serve as deputy director of the City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of Violence Reduction.
Dickens has set forth a bold agenda to keep Atlanta communities safe using evidence-based public health measures to expand the city’s tools for violence prevention beyond law enforcement. The Mayor’s Office of Violence Reduction will direct this work under the leadership of the inaugural director Jacquel Clemmons Moore and Clery as deputy director.
“The Department of Emergency Medicine and the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory (IPRCE) look forward to collaborating with the City of Atlanta in violence prevention. We celebrate Emory emergency medicine physician Michael Clery joining the City of Atlanta’s Office of Violence Reduction and know that his experience, passion and commitment will benefit the work being done to identify violence reduction strategies for all of Atlanta’s residents,” says David Wright, MD, chair of emergency medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Clery is a dedicated physician with over a decade of experience in research on violent injury and public policy responses. He participated in research focused on youth violence while in medical school and residency training at the University of Michigan. He has authored papers describing adolescent firearm possession and effective follow-up practices for assault-injured youth. He also pursued a master of public policy degree at the Harvard Kennedy School where he studied social urban policy with a focus on strategies to implement hospital-based violence intervention programs. Building on this work, he became a Detroit Public Health Fellow during residency training to help design a violence reduction strategy for the city.
Since joining Emory University faculty in the Department of Emergency Medicine, he has become a steering committee member of IPRCE. He is also a member of the United States Injury Prevention Partnership (USIPP) and collaborates with colleagues and community partners to design interventions for violently injured patients. Clery’s clinical work at Grady Health System also includes improving care for victims of trauma such as violent injury, domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking.
“I am proud of the City of Atlanta for investing in public health approaches to intervene and prevent violence that will make all Atlanta residents safer, and I am excited to be part of the Office of Violence Reduction,” says Clery.
June is Gun Violence Awareness month, and the Office of Violence Reduction is convening stakeholders across the city to build strategies that protect Atlanta’s communities. During the month, look for events across the city aiming to educate, activate and engage Atlantans around the topic of gun violence and proven public health strategies to support Atlanta communities. Follow the City of Atlanta’s social media and visit atlstrong.org to learn more.
Emory’s Department of Emergency Medicine was founded in 1975. The department includes the IPRCE and five patient care centers: Emory University Hospital, Emory University Hospital Midtown, Emory Johns Creek Hospital, Grady Health System and the Atlanta VA Medical Center. The Emory Emergency Medicine mission is to deliver exceptional prehospital and emergency care, advance groundbreaking science through translational and public health research, accelerate innovation and provide an unmatched education to a diverse group of trainees and communities.