Dr. Naik-Mathuria’s research focuses on firearm injury prevention from a public health lens and clinical outcomes in pediatric trauma and surgical care. Most prominently on the clinical side, Dr. Naik-Mathuria currently leads
a large multicenter trial to study the ideal way to manage high-grade pancreatic trauma in children.
On the firearm injury side, her research team has developed the SAFIR (Surveillance to Assess for Firearm Injury and Risks) model to understand the epidemiology of firearm violence to both adults and children in the Greater Houston area. This involves
identifying where, when and how firearm injuries and deaths are occurring and what the social, individual and neighborhood risk factors that led to the injuries are. By partnering with city leadership, law enforcement and community violence prevention
programs, this data directly informs firearm injury prevention efforts that are targeted for effectiveness. This work is federally funded by the CDC.
Her research team also collaborates with injury and public health researchers at Baylor college of medicine, the University of Texas Houston, the VA, and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Other areas of work in firearm injury
prevention with these partners include safe firearm storage counseling for community pediatricians, culturally competent firearm storage messaging for veteran parents, and policy implications of firearm injury research.