Junior Faculty Fellow Aims To Reduce Racial Disparity in Urban Interpersonal Gun Violence

BY: KAORI (CHRISTINE) YOH

Jonathan Jay’s interest in solving public health problems stems from his time as a law student where he engaged with faculty who were passionate about addressing the impacts that policies have on people’s access to life-saving medical treatments. While working in global health policy, Jay realized the unique challenges and opportunities of doing public health work in cities and pivoted into urban health research. Now, Jay studies one of the largest public health crises in the United States today: interpersonal gun violence in urban areas. 

Jay cites interpersonal gun violence as “one of the most quintessential and challenging urban-health problems” due to the fact that structural racism appears to play a central role. Interpersonal gun violence is more common in neighborhoods where people of color live. “This type of gun violence has shown huge racial disparities that are grounded in segregation, disinvestment, and the inequitable distribution of resources,” says Jay.

As a Junior Faculty Fellow at the Hariri Institute and Assistant Professor at BU School of Public Health, Jay plans to conduct data-driven research and find alternative ways to reduce racial disparities in interpersonal gun violence in cities. “In the past, gun violence has most heavily been conceptualized as a crime issue and has been responded to using policing, but that approach hasn’t worked,” says Jay, “It’s important to bring the public health perspective to this problem.” 

Jay plans to use algorithms and computer simulation models to look for interventions that can reduce racial disparities in interpersonal gun violence. Changing the physical environment, such as remodeling a vacant lot, can help reduce this type of gun violence, says Jay. Jay’s artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm uses aerial images of city spaces to pinpoint what locations should be prioritized for making infrastructural changes that will reduce interpersonal gun violence. In addition, Jay uses computer simulation models to estimate how different interventions in cities impact rates of gun violence. “There are a lot of advantages of using computer simulation models when you’re dealing with complex systems,” says Jay, noting that gun violence is a very multi-layered issue that can’t be solved with one simple solution. 

With the results of his research, Jay hopes to be able to change how policymakers view gun violence prevention to enact meaningful change. “My goal is to be able to talk to decision makers with data-driven options about how the gun violence problem could be lessened if they implemented certain strategies, as opposed to what they’re doing now,” says Jay. 

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