January 25, 2022

The Center for Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends (FIRST) at the Dornsife School of Public Health (DSPH) announced the seventh cohort of Fire service Injury Research, Epidemiology, and Evaluation (FIRE) Fellows.

Fellowship recipients, known as “FIRE Fellows,” are each graduate students at DSPH. This year’s program is funded in part by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). 

This fellowship gives students the opportunity to work with and serve community partners with real world data and get immersed in the fire service through field experiences.

This year, Fellows will work towards developing a curriculum to prevent violence against firefighters, paramedics, and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). The curriculum will cover knowledge integration of cultural competency, curbside first aid, de-escalation, and evasive self-defense competencies.

Meet the 2022 FIRE Fellowship Recipients

Nada Ali

Program: MPH candidate in the department of Health Management & Policy

Ali received her bachelor’s degree in dentistry in 2013 after studying in Cairo, Egypt. She is interested in studying the importance of developing policies that investigate causes of, and prevention strategies for occupational injuries.

Yazid Barhoush

Program: MPH candidate in the department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Barhoush is an international student from Palestine and is looking forward to learning about the fire service through stakeholder engagement and academic research. In the Fellowship, he hopes to expand his curriculum development skills and grow his knowledge of workplace violence. He is eager to meet with firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs to hear about their challenges and to thank them for their service. 

Eboni Pelzer

Program: MPH candidate in the department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Pelzer is a second-year MPH student studying epidemiology with a goal of pursuing a PhD in Environmental & Occupational Health. As the daughter of a Philadelphia firefighter, she has the utmost respect and appreciation for the selfless contributions of first responders. Her goals are to study first responder personal and professional health exposures and to develop interventions aimed at improving their quality of life.

Inaya Wahid

Program: MPH candidate in the department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Wahid is a first-year MPH student studying epidemiology. She is looking forward to the FIRE Fellowship as a way to learn about mixed methods and injury prevention research and is eager to collaborate with stakeholders in the fire and rescue service.

The Fellows will be mentored by: FIRST Center Director, Jennifer Taylor, PhD, MPH, CPPS; Senior Project Manager, Andrea Davis, MPH (2012), CPH; Education & Training Coordinator, Alexandra Fisher, MPH (2020); and FIRE Fellow alumni.

The FIRST Center is a research enterprise organized to support the United States fire and rescue service through objective data collection and analysis. The IAFF Workplace Violence Prevention course uses findings from FIRST's Stress and Violence to fire-based EMS Responders (SAVER) portfolio. The SAVER Systems-Level Checklist is a policy and training intervention designed to shift the onus of safety and health from that of the individual first responder back onto the organization for whom they work by focusing on actions that leadership can institute through policy.

For more information, please contact Victoria Gallogly, Outreach and Communications Coordinator at FIRST.