Dr. Justin Heinze, associate professor of health behavior and health education, School of Public Health and Director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention School Safety Core, has been announced as one of four recipients of the Henry Russel Awards. The Awards are U-M’s highest honor for early or mid-career faculty members. Dr. Heinze’s scholarship focuses on factors that moderate growth and adaptation during adolescence by investigating two related themes: how youth exposure to substance use, mental duress and violence affects educational and development outcomes and future risk behavior, and whether interpersonal and community resources mitigate these effects.

His work emphasizes structural features of school context and policies that perpetuate inequity in violence and firearm outcomes, and how these institutions can serve as settings for prevention and health promotion.

Read more about the awardees