On March 7, 2005, the violence community lost one of its champions, Linda E. Saltzman, PhD. As a scientist and researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for more than twenty years, Dr. Saltzman's contributions to the prevention of intimate partner and family violence, as well as public health surveillance of violence against women, are beyond measure. Her groundbreaking work has helped define the field of violence and abuse and has led to numerous advancements in violence prevention. Dr. Saltzman represented the CDC on the American Medical Association’s National Advisory Council on Violence and Abuse (NACVA) for many years. The Linda E. Saltzman Symposium was developed by NACVA to both commemorate the legacy of Dr. Saltzman and honor her work in the field of violence and abuse.
Linda E. Saltzman received her master's (1973) and doctorate (1977) in Criminology from Florida State University. In 1978, Dr. Saltzman joined the Department of Sociology at Mankato State University in Mankato, Minnesota as an assistant professor, where she taught criminology and corrections courses. She advanced to the position of associate professor at the University in 1982, where she developed new courses in victimology, domestic violence, and sexual assault.
She joined CDC in 1984 as a visiting scientist in the Violence Epidemiology Branch. Dr. Saltzman's earliest work at CDC led to the design and implementation of studies about the prevention of violence-related injuries among intimate partners and family members. In 1993, she transferred to CDC's newly formed National Center for Injury Prevention and Control as a senior scientist. There, she continued her work developing and evaluating programs aimed at violence prevention, including developing uniform definitions for intimate partner violence and sexual violence; expanding violence violence-related public health surveillance activities; and measuring the health consequences and other effects of intimate partner and family violence.
Dr. Saltzman advanced the field of knowledge with her contributions to hundreds of government reports, scholarly journals, research articles, and professional presentations. Frequently, she also served as guest lecturer, advisory member, and participant on numerous professional committees related to intimate partner, sexual, and family violence prevention. She received numerous other CDC organizational awards in honor of her leadership and commitment to developing and evaluating programs and policies to help prevent intimate partner violence.
In conjunction with her work at CDC, Dr. Saltzman was also an adjunct associate professor at the School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia where she regularly led class discussions on the
epidemiology of violence, including family violence and violence against women, measuring violence-related injury, and developing violence surveillance systems. In addition, she regularly contributed to courses in the Department of Community Health at the Emory University School of Medicine.
For more information on the Linda E. Saltzman Symposium contact:
Jessica Sempek, MS at (312) 464-5376 or jessica.sempek@ama-assn.org
Content provided by: Violence Prevention