Remembrance Conference
Conference Details
We invite you to submit proposals for sessions that provide colleagues across our communities with opportunities to:
- Engage in meaningful discussions on pressing issues related to firearm violence and the medical field, including its impact on physician training, practicing physicians and medical educators.
- Share resources, tools, programs and best practices for educating others about firearm violence. We want to learn how your institution is addressing this critical issue.
- Gain new perspectives and insights by networking with diverse professionals and leaders in the field.
We welcome submissions on a broad range of topics. This is your chance to elevate an important issue, showcase an innovative project and share your experiences and lessons learned to benefit peers and leaders across our communities.
Don’t miss this opportunity to contribute to the conversation — submit your proposal today!
Submission deadline: May 2, 2025. We will send notifications by May 14.
All accepted presentations require speakers to register for the conference and pay a nominal registration fee.
With our June 2025 Remembrance Conference, we aim to engage teams of medical students and faculty in conversations, curriculum and programming that employ a public health approach to reduce firearm injuries and fatalities.
Gun violence is the number one killer of children in the United States. Therefore, a public health approach is the most effective way to decrease the number of people dying from guns, particularly when we start thinking about preventing suicide and community shootings.
Participants from multiple medical schools across the nation will hear from medical and trauma experts, government officials, medical students and, most importantly, from each other. A major focus of the conference is advocacy — including how physicians and students can best explain public health solutions to policymakers.
Representatives from the University at Buffalo, Michigan State University, and invited national speakers and experts — along with community members — will discuss gun violence through a public health lens.
In remembrance of those affected by gun violence, we aim to honor their memory through meaningful dialogue and action.
The Jacobs School partnered with Michigan State University (MSU) in February 2024 to present a Remembrance Conference at MSU. Participants had opportunities to engage with national trauma experts, work on advocacy skills with elected officials and remember those who have been lost to gun violence. In 2025, we look forward to another productive event.
The three-day conference will take place June 6-8, 2025. It will feature discussions on:
- mental health and addressing suicide
- advocacy training and activity
- the physician’s role in preventing firearm violence
It will also include plenary sessions, remembrance sessions, meals and a reception, and conversations with medical students.
Friday, June 6, 2025
Keynote Speaker:
Megan Ranney, MD, MPH
Saturday, June 7, 2025
Morning Plenary Session:
Robert J. Gore, MD ’02
Afternoon Plenary Session:
Zeneta B. Everhart
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Morning Plenary Session:
Patricia Logan-Greene, MSSW, PhD
Please stay tuned for additional conference schedule updates.
Ranney is a renowned emergency physician, researcher and advocate for innovative approaches to public health. As dean of the Yale School of Public Health, she brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her role.
Ranney’s research focuses on developing and implementing digital health interventions to prevent violence and related behavioral health issues. Her work has also contributed significantly to understanding and mitigating COVID-related risks.
A passionate advocate for gun safety, Ranney co-founded the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM) and has been a vocal advocate for a public health approach to gun violence. She has also been instrumental in providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to those in need through her co-founded nonprofit, GetUsPPE.
Ranney has received numerous awards for her contributions to technology innovation, public health and research. She is a frequent media commentator and has been featured in outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, the BBC and The New York Times.
Prior to joining Yale, Ranney held leadership positions at Brown University, where she served as deputy dean of the School of Public Health and founding director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health.
A dedicated public health professional, Ranney’s work has had a profound impact on the field. Her leadership, research and advocacy continue to shape the future of public health.
Gore, a distinguished alumnus of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (Class of 2002), is an attending physician and clinical assistant professor at Kings County Hospital, SUNY Downstate Department of Emergency Medicine in Brooklyn. He is the founder and executive director of the Kings Against Violence Initiative (KAVI), a comprehensive youth violence intervention, prevention and empowerment program.
Reflecting on his upbringing, Gore recalls a family ethos centered around proactive problem-solving and community engagement. “A common theme around the dinner table when I was growing up was, ‘If there’s a problem, how are you going to fix it?’” he said. “I learned that you go to protest marches, you do voter registration, you volunteer, you tutor, you mentor. I don’t know if I’ve ever not done that. Activism and engagement are what I know.”
In recognition of his impactful work, Gore was named a Top 10 CNN Hero in 2018, an accolade celebrating individuals who are making significant contributions to their communities. That same year, he was also selected as a Presidential Leadership Scholar. His efforts have been highlighted in prominent media outlets such as the New York Times, the History Channel’s History Now series, TheRoot.com, Black Enterprise, BET and The Grio.
Born in Buffalo and raised in Brooklyn, Gore completed his residency in emergency medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago after graduating from the Jacobs School. He is also the founding director of the Minority Medical Student Emergency Medicine Summer Fellowship, a Brooklyn-based program designed to mentor and enrich underrepresented minorities aspiring to careers in emergency medicine.
Since 2008, Gore has served as a consultant for Clinique Espérance et Vie in Terrier Rouge, Haiti. Additionally, he is a member of the advisory board for EMEDEX International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing emergency medicine, disaster management and public health on a global scale.
Gore is also the author of “Treating Violence: An Emergency Room Doctor Takes On a Deadly American Epidemic,” a book that delves into his experiences and insights on addressing violence as a public health issue.
Zeneta B. Everhart is a Buffalo, N.Y., native, born and raised on the East Side of Buffalo. She holds an associate’s degree from Villa Maria College, where she studied liberal arts humanities. She then continued her education at Canisius College, where she studied television production and interpersonal communication, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Upon graduation, she accepted a position with Spectrum News Buffalo as a breaking news photographer and eventually became a producer.
After six years of working in news and media, Everhart made a career leap into politics, accepting a position with New York State Senator, Tim Kennedy, of the 63rd District. She served as his director of diversity and inclusion, focusing on ensuring equity through legislation, community building and the equitable distribution of resources. This was a position she took seriously, as she was charged with ensuring that the community in which she was born had a seat at the table. One of her greatest accomplishments in the senator’s office was the creation of Single Moms Club Buffalo, a support group for single moms.
Following the 5/14 massacre that seriously injured her son, Zaire Goodman, Everhart testified before Congress about the need for stricter gun laws, resulting in the passage of the Safer Communities Act, the first piece of gun legislation in more than 30 years. From this tragedy, Zeneta & Zaire’s Book Club was also born. Everhart and her son have collected more than 17,000 books that teach children about racism, diversity and acceptance in an effort to build a more inclusive society.
In 2023, Everhart ran for political office, winning the Democratic primary and the general election to become the next City of Buffalo Common Councilwoman for the Masten District, a seat that had not been held by a woman in more than 60 years. She is a humanist who believes in the power of serving others through love and understanding.
Patricia Logan-Greene, MSSW, PhD, associate professor and associate dean for academic affairs, takes a trauma-informed approach to violence, childhood adversity and system responses to maltreatment and delinquency.
Through her research, she examines the effects of childhood maltreatment on aggression, delinquency and health and mental health outcomes throughout the lifespan. She recently completed a NIH-funded grant to examine the effects of child neglect and poverty on adolescent outcomes. She also coordinates the School of Social Work’s Child Advocacy Studies micro credential, an undergraduate sequence focused on child maltreatment. Recently, she has shifted her attention to the prevention of gun violence, especially how social workers can leverage their knowledge and skills to intervene with those most at risk of injury.
Logan-Greene is a co-leader of the new national Grand Challenge in Social Work to Prevent Gun Violence. This work has also led to a Department of Homeland Security Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention grant to train behavioral health professionals in New York State on the prevention of violent extremism.
Logan-Greene originally joined the UB School of Social Work from the University of Washington School of Social Work, where she completed her doctorate and earned statistics certification through the Center for Statistics in the Social Sciences. She was also awarded an NIMH Mental Illness Prevention Fellowship and ITHS TL1 Multidisciplinary Predoctoral Clinical Research Fellowship.
Conference registration begins in April 2025.
Please stay tuned for registration information.
Thank you to our conference sponsors:
Be a Sponsor and Further Our Cause
Are you interested in sponsoring the conference to support our aim of reducing firearm injuries and deaths via a public health approach?
With your involvement, you can make a meaningful impact while helping commemorate those who have been lost to gun violence.
- Julie Szrama, director of student and academic affairs, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, juliemos@buffalo.edu
- Maria Murphy, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Beverly Taggart, University at Buffalo
- Linda Christiano, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Shannon Okonczak, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Dawn Cwierley, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Patrick Broadwater, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Lisa Galbavi, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
- Jeffry Comanici, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Annie Printup, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Sandra Klubek, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- The Rev. Kinzer Pointer, community member
- Samantha Bordonaro, MD, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Susan Orrange, PhD, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Anyango Kamina, PhD, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Andrea Wendling, MD, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
- Brittany Tayler, MD, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
- Michael Lamb, PhD, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Mikaela Hastings, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Anna Fretz, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Sourav Sengupta, MD, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Annie Printup, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Kamilah Weems, AAMC
- Garnell Whitfield, Jr., community member
- Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, vice president for health sciences and dean, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Aron Sousa, MD, executive dean for health sciences, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
- David Milling, MD, senior associate dean for student and academic affairs, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Andrea Wendling, MD, senior associate dean for academic affairs, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
- Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, vice president for health sciences and dean, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
- Aron Sousa, MD, executive dean for health sciences, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
- Richard Isaacs, MD, dean, senior vice president of medical affairs and chief academic officer, California Northstate University College of Medicine
- Carol Bradford, MD, dean, The Ohio State University College of Medicine
- Patricia W. Finn, MD, dean, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
- Richard Miskimins, MD, professor of acute care surgery
