GUN VIOLENCE AND MENTAL ILLNESS: Georgetown Expert To Speak at Charleston Summit

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WASHINGTON (DEC. 3, 2015) – Georgetown University forensic psychiatrist Liza Gold, MD, an expert on gun violence and mental illness, is an invited speaker at “Moving from Crisis to Action: A Public Health Approach to Reducing Gun Violence ” on Friday, Dec. 4 at Emanuel A.M.E. Church, in Charleston, S.C. The conference comes almost six months after a shooting at the church on June 17, 2015 killed nine people. Gold will represent the American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Gold is available for interviews while in Charleston.

WHO: Liza H. Gold, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical Center and editor/author of “Gun Violence and Mental Health ” (Published by American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.)

“When it comes to gun violence, we need to stop focusing on mental illness,” says Gold, editor/contributing author of the new book Gun Violence and Mental Health. “We need to start designing interventions to identify people who are dangerous, whether or not they have mental illness, and limit their access to guns. Most people with serious mental illness are not violent. Most violent individuals do not have serious mental illness.”

WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 3 (after 5p) and Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 (between noon and 5p)

WHERE: In person (near Emanuel A.M.E. Church, Charleston, S.C.) or by phone

To arrange an interview with Dr. Gold, please contact Karen Teber at km463@georgetown.edu or 215-514-9751.

About Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) is an internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through MedStar Health). GUMC’s mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis — or “care of the whole person.” The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing & Health Studies, both nationally ranked; Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, designated as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute; and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization, which accounts for the majority of externally funded research at GUMC including a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health.