Most victims of partner violence are not aware that their situation isn't "normal." According to Debra Houry, Assistant Professor and Director for the Center of Injury Control, "People don't recognize that they're victims of violence, they don't know to develop a safety plan, they don't know to tell friends and family about it." Advocating for these patients, and devising creative solutions to the barriers that many face, is one of the central missions of Houry's clinical and scholarly research.

Houry is well-equipped for the challenge. A master at multi-tasking, she works as an administrator, clinician, teacher, and researcher. She sees herself as an advocate for injury control and public health and is committed to helping victims of partner violence, improving children's health, reducing depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome, and providing preventative health resources for high-risk populations.

Houry began her medical career as an undergraduate at Emory. During that time she worked as a volunteer at Grady Memorial Hospital, an experience that helped started her down a path toward emergency medicine. She attended medical school at Tulane University, where she became interested in the topic of partner violence. "As a medical student," Houry says, "I was just looking for a research project and was paired up with a wonderful mentor who did intimate partner violence research, and it spun off from there." By the time she finished her M.D. and started a residency in Emergency Medicine at the Denver Health Medical Center, she was deeply immersed in the clinical and research aspects of partner violence. For Houry, partner violence cannot be neatly separated either from emergency medicine or from public health. The intersection of these arenas has become one of her central areas of attention.

Now an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Behavioral Science and Health Education, Enivronmental and Occupational Health as well as Director of the Center for Injury Control, Houry is committed to providing resources for victims and perpetrators of partner violence. Thinking outside the box, she decided to make the most of the long wait experienced by many people in the emergency room at Grady Hospital. With funding from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, Houry put up two computer kiosks in the waiting room. Individuals who choose to use the kiosks are screened for intimate partner violence, substance abuse, depression, and suicide. Those who use the kiosks seem more willing to disclose personal information on the computer than they would to a doctor, perhaps because it has less risk of embarrassment. When individuals screen "positive" for partner violence or other health-related issues, they receive a print-out with resources to help them. Victims of partner violence also receive an educational handout, and are asked to participate in two follow-up interviews (one at a week and one at three months) to assess whether they are taking advantage of the resources that they received from the kiosk. So far, a large number of patients have agreed to participate in at least one of the follow-up interviews.

Houry is thrilled with the amount of self-advocacy displayed in such situations. Because of the success of the kiosks at Grady, the Avon Foundation recently agreed to fund the project's expansion. Avon's support will allow the kiosks to remain at Grady, and will place new kiosks at Emory Crawford Long Hospital as well. Houry is working to ensure that the project can also be replicated elsewhere. "The hope is to go web-based," she says. "That way [this program] can be implemented nationally at emergency departments."

Houry is constantly looking for new ways to provide preventative health care. With the kiosks up and running, she is now working a project to help prevent trauma victims from developing post-traumatic stress syndrome. She is also starting a screening program at Grady to identify patients with undiagnosed HIV. And she's working with Georgia State, Spellman, Morehouse, and Georgia Tech to promote collaboration and increase the injury and violence prevention community in Atlanta.

Living in Atlanta for the second time in her life, Houry is happy to be a part of the city and a part of Emory. Commenting on her return, she says, "I thought Emory's community was very supportive and collaborative. Not a lot of places have both a strong school of medicine and school of public health. I thought Emory did, and that was one of the reasons that I came back." She participates in all aspects of the life of the university: she is a member of the Institutional Review Board, the School of Medicine admissions committee, and the President's Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW). She also teaches two formal courses a year, conducts bedside teaching, serves as a thesis advisor, helps medical students with summer research, leads a lecture series for emergency medicine residents, and assists residents with research projects. And she still finds time to serve as Associate Editor for Annals of Emergency Medicine, as a research committee member for the American College of Emergency Physicians, and as a board member for Georgia Safe Kids.

Houry's schedule is packed, but these projects complement and enrich each other. Every day, she has the chance to advocate for the health of those in need. Every day, she is faced with the daunting challenge - and privilege - of calling the victims of violence to take new direction in their lives. Says Houry: "With emergency medicine, you're seeing patients sometimes at the worst moments in their life, so you have to really want to do something for the public good...that's why I love what I do, because I think I do make a difference."