Cure Violence Global's New CEO Brings a Deep Understanding of the Contagious Nature of Violence and Its Impact on Communities

CHICAGO, May 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Why is a physician, public health leader, and former Navy medical officer dedicating the next phase of his career to treating community violence?

"I believe the Cure Violence approach, an evidence-based public health approach that integrates the tenets of health and social justice to address the root causes of violence, can help guide us to a world without violence," says Dr. Echols, "and I am going to do everything I can to lead us there, because lives are depending on it."

This week, Dr. Frederick Echols begins his role as the CEO of Cure Violence Global (CVG). In selecting Dr. Echols, a medical doctor and public health leader, CVG signifies the organization's continued commitment to the public health approach to reducing violence, an approach that CVG helped to pioneer.  

Dr. Echols will be succeeding Dr. Gary Slutkin, the founder and CEO for more than 25 years.  Dr. Slutkin will remain actively involved in CVG as a member of its Board of Directors. Stepping away from the day-to-day activity of the organization will allow Dr. Slutkin to focus on spreading the understanding of violence as a health issue globally and adapting the approach to urgent crises, including political violence.

The recognition that violence is an epidemic and an urgent public health problem has taken hold in the United States and globally, and cities are increasingly turning to public health approaches to help make long-violent communities safer. Cure Violence Global (CVG) is unique in the field of violence prevention for its decades-long focus on the public health approach and significant evidence of effectiveness. No other organization guides and trains communities to implement public approaches to violence prevention as effectively as CVG does.

Dr. Echols opens an exciting new chapter for CVG, as a young leader who brings to the organization a passion for and commitment to public health, experience addressing root causes of disparities at the population health level in a manner that moves cities closer to achieving health and social justice, implementing strategies that can lead to system-level change, and a deep familiarity with treating violence as a contagious process.

Dr. Echols comes to CVG from St. Louis where, as Health Commissioner and Acting Health Director, he oversaw the city's implementation of the Cure Violence approach, as well as all other aspects of the St. Louis Health Department. Dr. Echols' leadership in St. Louis during the city's COVID-19 response demonstrated his ability to run a complex public health response to an ever-changing public health crisis.

Prior to his positions in the city of St. Louis, Dr. Echols was the Director of Communicable Disease, Emergency Preparedness, Vector & Veterinary Programs for St. Louis County and before that he served as the Chief of Communicable Diseases for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

As CEO of CVG, Dr. Echols will provide strategic leadership, oversee day-to-day operations, and engage proactively with all CVG's partners to further CVG's mission of reducing violence globally using an evidence-informed health approach and epidemic-control methods and in pursuance of Cure Violence Global's vision of a world without violence.

Under Dr. Slutkin's leadership, Cure Violence evolved from an insight to a proven concept and increasingly widely adopted approach. CVG teams designed, piloted, replicated, and demonstrated the scientific validity and effectiveness of the public health/epidemic control approach to violence reduction. The Cure Violence approach is currently being implemented in over 30 cities in the U.S. and Latin America and is being adapted to address other types of violence including gender-based violence, election and political violence, and violence in conflict zones. Over the years, CVG has worked with partners in the U.S., Latin America & the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

"Dr. Fredrick Echols is exactly the right person to lead Cure Violence Global and the field at this moment," said CVG founder Gary Slutkin. "Public health methods have helped to put many of the great diseases and killers of humankind into the past and expand the human lifespan by decades. Using a science-based epidemic control approach, violence can also be reduced to fewer and fewer events, and this will be the next great achievement of science and public health."

"Dr. Echols was an exceptional leader of the Cure Violence approach in St. Louis, said Sal Martinez, CEO of Employment Connections, an implementing partner of Cure Violence Global in St. Louis. "He provided the strong leadership that we needed to get the program implemented and operating effectively. Dr. Echols developed strategic relationships and partnerships at the city and community level, helped to educate leaders on the approach, and led us through crises when our funding was at risk. Most importantly, he is someone that my whole team respected.  In the communities, people see Cure Violence as essential, and we're all thrilled that he is the next leader of this organization."

SOURCE Cure Violence Global