Atlanta, March 5, 2009 -- Hank Weiss, PhD, MPH, associate professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Injury Research and Control (CIRCL), was honored with the prestigious Alex Kelter Vision Award from the State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association (STIPDA) at the national organization’s annual awards luncheon held on February 25, 2009 in National Harbor, MD.

The Alex Kelter Vision Award recognizes individuals who have brought leadership and vision to the field of injury and violence prevention.

Dr. Weiss has more than 25 years experience in the practice of injury control, including consultation on local projects and working at the state level in Wisconsin, where he directed the injury prevention program from 1985-1989. Since 1992 he has worked in academia, where he has developed the largest series of injury and violence prevention-related webinars in the field.

Dr. Weiss has made a variety of contributions to the injury and violence prevention field which have spanned a wide cross-section of topics, including injury surveillance, school violence prevention, baby walkers, pesticide poisonings, bicycle injuries, transportation safety, farm injuries, hospital discharge data, data linkage, elderly falls, and recreational injuries. He served as director of CIRCL from November 2002 to February 2008. He was chair of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Injury Control and Emergency Health Services section in 1990, and was president of the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR).

Currently, Dr. Weiss focuses on injuries to females, pregnant women, and fetal outcomes due to trauma. He will be traveling to New Zealand, where he will continue his injury prevention work at the University of Otago.

The State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association (STIPDA) is a national non-profit 501(c)(3) organization of professionals committed to strengthening the ability of state, territorial, and local health departments to reduce death and disability associated with injury and violence. Formed in 1992, STIPDA is the only national non-profit organization comprised of public health injury professionals representing all states and territories throughout the United States.