2015 NNHVIP Conference Call for Workshops
“Healing is Justice: Helping Systems of Care Promote Equity”
September 28-29, 2015
The California Endowment’s Center for Healthy Communities, Los Angeles, CA
The National Network of Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs’ annual conference
draws a diverse audience committed to breaking the cycle of violence and promoting healing in
communities where violent injuries occur. The over 200 attendees include: frontline gang
intervention workers, pediatric and adult physicians, public officials, experts and emerging
researchers from various academic fields, crisis responders, community-based programs and
organizations, social workers, mental health providers, nurses, members of state/local/federal
government, and community members affected by and/or responding to violence. Presentations
are encouraged that honor, promote and build upon the expertise of conference attendees.
Proposed Session Title: Outcomes to Make Your Program Soar
Suggest a title (8-10 words) that is informative and clearly reflects the presentation content.
PRESENTER(S) BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Name of Lead Speaker/Proposal Submitter: Marlene Melzer-Lange
This person will be the contact and is responsible for all session logistics
Job Title: Medical Director
Organization: Project Ujima
NNHVIP affiliation (i.e. member program, emerging program, other.):member program
Street Address:C550, Children’s Corporate Center
City, State, Zip: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53226
Telephone: 414 266 2647
Email: mmelzer@mcw.edu
NNHVIP 2015 Conference
Call for Workshops
Page 2 of 4
Additional Speakers: If applicable, identify any additional speakers below with e-mail and phone
information.
Name
E-mail address
Phone #
Brooke Mortag
brooke.mortag@cssw.org
414-292-4117
Michael Levas
mnlevas@mcw.edu
414-266-2625
Thea James
Thea James <tljlcj@gmail.com>
Professional Background: Provide a 1-4 sentence biography for each speaker to be used as an
introduction as well as an overview of your knowledge and experience related to the proposed
session topic and HVIP field; i.e.: years of experience in the related field, degrees held and from
what academic institutions, current appointments, concurrent responsibilities, areas of specialty,
past speaking engagements, etc.
Marlene Melzer-Lange MD received her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin
and completed her pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. As a pediatric
emergency medicine physician she has witnessed the devastation of youth violence. She serves as
medical director for Project Ujima, a long-standing violence intervention program. She is a
Professor of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin and her scholarly interest is violence
and violence intervention amongst youth victims of violence. She has presented violence
intervention topics at NNHVIP as well as other national and international conferences.
Brooke Mortag, MS, is Program Manager of Project Ujima. She has a strong background in
leading youth development activities and extensive experience in providing crime victim services
to youth and families affected by violence. She has presented her work at community and
educational venues throughout Wisconsin. Her career goal is to make sure that each youth she
serves is able to grow up healthy and safe.
Michael Levas, MD is an Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the
Section of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Since joining the faculty at the Medical
College, Dr Levas has been intimately involved with youth violence and injury
prevention policy and research and is currently the Physician Liaison for Project Ujima.
He currently serves on the Global Health Advisory Council and the Violence Prevention
Initiative at the Medical College. His career goal is to reduce the burden of violence on
our youth through establishing best practices in evaluation tools and methods.
Thea James MD is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Boston University and
Boston Medical Center and is Director of the Boston Medical Center Site of the
Massachusettes Violence Intervention Program. She has served on the US Attorney
General’s Taskforce on Toxic Stress Exposure to Children. She speaks extensively on
violence and its effects on communities, particularly on children.
NNHVIP 2015 Conference
Call for Workshops
Page 3 of 4
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION
Presentation Learning Objectives: List 3 educational goals of the presentation that specify
what participants will learn as a result of attending the presentation. (NNHVIP reserves the right to
edit objectives to meet requirements for CEUs)
1. Identify strategies to develop outcomes for your violence intervention program
2. Understand case study of Project Ujima, a violence intervention program
3. Provide both qualitative and quantitative methods to define outcomes
4. Discuss the use of Patient-Reported Outcomes and Health Related Quality of Life in
program evaluation
Session Categories: Check one or more categories that best represent the focus area of the
presentation.
☐ Promoting Equity / Addressing Bias
☐ Best Practices in Direct Services
☐ Policy and/or Advocacy
☐ Trauma-Informed Care
☐ Bridging Direct Service & Advocacy
☒ Mental Health
☒ Research
☐ Hospital-Community Partnership
☐ Other: Click here to enter text.
☐ Healing the Healers / Self-Care
I submit this workshop proposal for consideration for the preferred following event format(s):
(Check all that apply)
Presentation Length:
☒ 90 minute breakout session
☐ 40 minute presentation to be paired with another presentation on a similar topic
Presentation Format:
☐
Presentation (with or without Q&A to follow)
☒
Interactive training or conversation
(At this year’s conference, the planning committee is giving special consideration
to interactive workshops that build on the skills and expertise of audience
members. If checked, please specify what methods will be used to ensure
audience participation and interaction on the topic presented.)
Short presentations by session leaders followed by small group work and discussion
NNHVIP 2015 Conference
Call for Workshops
Page 4 of 4
Session Narrative: Please summarize the presentation in no more than 500 words).
This will be utilized to evaluate the overall relevance and quality of the proposed presentation. If
your presentation is selected, this narrative will also be adapted for the Conference Program.
Violence intervention programs are needed to support the patients who come to our hospitals due
to a violent injury. Yet, many programs struggle to provide their hospital and community stakeholders
with the evidence that the program is effective. Outcomes, as well as published research, are essential
in sustaining programs in their violence intervention work. Utilizing Project Ujima as a case study, we
will discuss ways to develop and measure outcomes for violence intervention programs, while also
nurturing violence intervention research. Here is our proposed timeline for this interactive session:
 Introduction and overview of session: Marlene Melzer-Lange 10 minutes
 Project Ujima case study: Brooke Mortag 10 minutes
 Qualitative methods: Thea James 10 minutes
 Small table application of qualitative methods to participant programs All 15 minutes
 Client reported outcomes: Michael Levas 10 minutes
 Small table application of client reported outcomes to participant programs All 15 minutes
 Summary: Marlene Melzer-Lange & All 20 minutes
Participants of this session will have the opportunity to develop an outline to measure outcomes and a
research agenda for their home violence intervention program.
Presentation Agreement:
 Submit my PowerPoint presentation via email or flash drive no later than September 21, 2015.
 Provide all required information and affirmations for CEU certification, by due dates requested.
 Prepare, duplicate, and distribute handout materials for my presentation at my expense.
 Allow NNHVIP to list my contact information on printed and online materials.
 Presenters may not sell, promote or pitch any specific product or service.
 I understand NNHVIP cannot pay honoraria, travel, per diem, handouts or other costs for
speakers. In appreciation for your contribution, one approved speaker may attend the conference
at no cost for registration.
By submitting your presentation, you are agreeing to the presentation agreement.
*** Email submissions by May 1, 2015, to Ahmed Ali-Bob at ahmed@youthalive.org ***