Deborah Gorman-Smith

Deborah Gorman-Smith is the Dean and Emily Klein Gidwitz Professor at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago. She also serves as the Principal Investigator and Director of the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention, a CDC-funded national Academic Center of Excellence. Her work focuses on public health approaches to youth violence prevention, particularly among minority youth in urban settings.

Research Interests:

• Youth violence prevention and intervention
• Community and family dynamics in urban settings
• Social determinants of health and violence
• Minority adolescent development
• Public health policy and preventive interventions

Her research explores how neighborhood characteristics, family functioning, and community violence intersect to influence adolescent behavior, with a strong emphasis on developing evidence-based prevention strategies.

Her publications span over two decades and consistently address the ecological and developmental factors contributing to youth violence, with a recent focus on firearm injury prevention, community-level interventions, and the role of social and structural determinants in shaping outcomes for urban adolescents.

Scientific Contributions:

• Led a UN-commissioned study on violence against children
• Member of the UK Department of Health’s Study Group on Primary Prevention of Antisocial Behavior
• Principal Investigator of CDC-funded youth violence prevention centers

She has also contributed to large-scale longitudinal studies such as the SAFE Children Study and has advised on national and international policy frameworks for youth violence prevention.

Labs and Teams:

Gorman-Smith leads the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention, a collaborative hub that integrates academic research, community engagement, and policy development to reduce youth violence in high-burden communities. The center works closely with local organizations, schools, and public health agencies to implement and evaluate community-level interventions.