Executive Leadership and Expert Bios

Thomas R. Simon, PhD

Associate Director for Science, Division of Violence Prevention

  Areas of Expertise

• Youth violence prevention
• School violence prevention
• Suicide prevention
• Violence surveillance
• Public health burden of violence

Thomas Simon, PhD, is the Associate Director for Science (ADS) within the Office of the Director of the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). As the Associate Director, he provides leadership, planning, and guidance to Division management and staff on scientific policy, research methodology, and priorities for research activities. His work focuses primarily on violence involving young people, including school violence, suicide, and the linkages across different forms of violence. He is particularly interested in how changes in prevention strategies and policies can reduce risk for multiple types of violence at the population level.

Dr. Simon received his BA in psychology from the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio and his PhD in preventive medicine from the University of Southern California’s School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Simon started at CDC as a Preventive Medicine Fellow in 1996. During his career at CDC, Dr. Simon has served as a scientific advisor on multiple etiological studies examining risk and protective factors for aggressive and suicidal behavior and longitudinal evaluations of violence and suicide prevention programs.

As the Deputy ADS since 2006, Dr. Simon has provided consultation to DVP management and staff on research priorities, methodology, and science policies. He has also worked to enhance scientific collaboration. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, government publications, and book chapters and given numerous presentations at international, national, state or local conferences or meetings. Topics address violence as a public health problem, risk and protective factors for violence, and prevention strategies based on the best available evidence.