RALIANCE, Futures Without Violence, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation are thrilled and honored to announce the winner of the 2021 Linda E. Saltzman New Investigator Award: Nkiru Nnawulezi, PhD, Assistant Professor of Community Psychology at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC). The award, presented at each National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence, recognizes an outstanding new investigator with 2-10 years of experience working in the field of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, teen dating violence, human trafficking, and their intersections with health and public health.
The award is given in honor of Dr. Linda E. Saltzman, who worked as the Senior Scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Division of Violence Prevention where she initiated numerous studies highlighting the public health surveillance and health outcomes of domestic and sexual violence. Through her vital work, she laid the foundation for the violence prevention field through development of uniform definitions of intimate partner violence and sexual violence, ongoing data collection, and community partnerships among researchers and advocates.
Dr. Nnawulezi’s work stood out in a competitive pool of applicants reviewed by Futures Without Violence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), RALIANCE, and a committee of experts. Dr. Nnawulezi’s scholarly work aims to reach survivors with multiple marginalized identities. She promotes a systems-change approach to ensure all survivors’ needs are being met, and she strongly values working in close partnership with communities, using community-based research methods in her work. Dr. Nnawulezi’s impressive suite of research both embodies and continues the legacy of Dr. Linda E. Saltzman.
Listen to this exclusive interview with Dr. Nnawulezi to learn more about her approach to doing this work, what she is working on now, and her advice for future researchers!
You can also learn more about Dr. Nnawulezi’s work by reading this article from UMBC.