UC Irvine Giving Day

This Giving Day, please consider giving a gift to the Center for Trauma and Injury Prevention Research (CTIPR) in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Your support helps prevent injuries, including traffic and fall injuries, and protects families across Southern California. Every dollar counts and even a $5 donation is a powerful measure of community support that helps save lives and strengthen our communities.  

Preventing Tragedy Through Injury Research and Education

Physical injury and trauma remain one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. In the United States, injuries claim over 200,000 lives each year, making them the third leading cause of death. Beyond mortality, injuries leave lasting physical, emotional and financial consequences for individuals and families.

Unlike many chronic diseases, injuries are often preventable. Through targeted research, education and community-based interventions, we can reduce risk and protect futures before lives are permanently altered.

Under the leadership of Dr. Shahram Lotfipour, CTIPR brings together emergency physicians, researchers and community partners to prevent injuries across Orange County and beyond. Our work focuses on identifying risk factors, implementing evidence-based interventions and improving emergency response and post-injury care.

Philanthropic support is vital to expanding this work. As injury rates continue to impact families in our community, your gift will allow us to grow prevention programs, strengthen research initiatives and reach vulnerable populations with life-saving education.

Our Program in Action

Through CTIPR, we have launched innovative initiatives designed to reduce preventable harm:

• Our Report Unsafe Vehicle & Outdoor Infrastructure Concerns (RUVOICE) initiative empowers community members to identify and report pedestrian safety hazards in their neighborhoods, fostering shared responsibility and partnership with local officials to create safer streets throughout Orange County. 
  
  
• Our Childhood Drowning Prevention (CDP) efforts, launched in 2022, focus on water safety education and community awareness to prevent one of the most tragic, and preventable, causes of childhood death.
  
  
• The Virtual Ambassador Program (VAP), launched in 2021, empowers UC Irvine students to promote sober driving among their peers, fostering safer driving behaviors and reducing DUI incidents throughout Southern California.
  
  
• The Computerized Alcohol Screening and Intervention (CASI) program, launched in 2006, equips healthcare professionals with tools to identify individuals at risk of alcohol-related injury and intervene early to prevent repeat harm.

As we continue building these programs, philanthropic funding remains essential. Your gift will help expand outreach, strengthen multidisciplinary collaboration and increase our ability to prevent injuries before they occur. It will also allow us to extend services to high-risk and underserved communities across the region.