Maryann Mason

Maryann Mason, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. She serves as the leader of violence and injury research at the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics, and is affiliated with multiple institutes including the Institute for Policy Research, the Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM), the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS), and the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health (IGH). Her work focuses on community conditions and their impact on health and well-being across the life course, particularly in low-resource communities.

As a sociologist, Dr. Mason works to understand environmental, cultural, institutional, and social influences on health. Her research spans injury and obesity prevention with emphasis on community programming and environmental interventions. She is particularly interested in collaborative research and evaluation to improve the health and well-being of children and their communities through socio-ecological approaches to health. Her current work includes leading the development of a new dashboard for Illinois to monitor violent deaths and non-fatal firearm violence at the county level, as well as research on opioid-related deaths and suicide prevention.

Dr. Mason's recent publications show a strong focus on violence prevention, opioid overdose, and public health surveillance. Her work leverages data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) and other surveillance systems to understand patterns of injury and death. She has conducted extensive research on geographic trends in opioid overdoses, suicide among older adults, and disparities in drug overdose deaths by race, ethnicity, and age. Her methodological approach often combines traditional epidemiological methods with innovative data science techniques, including machine learning applications for public health surveillance.

• AOSC Mentor teaching Pin, Feinberg School of Medicine, Office of Medical Education (2022)
• OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship, Public Voices (2020)
• Excellence in Research Award, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University (2019)
• Research Day 2nd place poster award, Northwestern University, Research Day (2019)
• Translating Research to Policy Award Recipient, Active Living Research, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson (2013)
• Friends of the Parks Community Award, Friends of the Parks (2012)
• Teaching Scholar Award, Loyola University, Chicago, IL (1993)

Dr. Mason is actively engaged in advising and policy work, serving on multiple committees including the Illinois Suicide Prevention Alliance, Illinois Office of Firearm Violence Research Group, Illinois Partnership for Safety, and the Data and Surveillance Committee of the Illinois Partnership for Safety. She has received external funding for her research on violence prevention and injury control. Her work bridges academic research with practical community applications, focusing on translating evidence into policy and practice.

She leads research teams focused on violence prevention and injury control, working closely with community organizations and government agencies in Illinois. Her approach emphasizes community-engaged scholarship, partnering with those who have lived experience of the health issues she studies to develop more effective interventions.