NEW YORK (Diya TV) — Columbia University professor and gun violence prevention expert Sonali Rajan has been appointed the new Senior Research Director at Everytown Research, the research arm of the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. She will begin her role in summer 2025 while on sabbatical and research leave from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she currently serves as a professor of health promotion and education.
Rajan brings more than a decade of interdisciplinary, data-driven research experience focused on child health, school safety, and gun violence prevention. At Everytown, she will oversee a multidisciplinary team, lead strategic research initiatives, and serve as a key public voice for the organization’s findings.
“We are thrilled to welcome a deeply respected leader in the gun violence prevention research community,” said Nick Suplina, Everytown’s Senior Vice President of Law and Policy. “Her expertise will be instrumental in taking our team’s groundbreaking research to new heights, deepening our understanding of the epidemic, and accelerating life-saving solutions at a pivotal time.”
Rajan’s research frames firearm violence as an adverse childhood experience, a lens that has significantly influenced public health and education policy. Her work is supported by major funders, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most recently, she served on a National Academies committee studying how active shooter drills affect children’s health and well-being.
In a statement, Rajan shared her motivation for joining the Everytown team: “I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to step into this leadership role with such an extraordinary team of colleagues. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death among children and teens in the U.S., and we must continue building on the meaningful progress our research community has made in recent years.”
In addition to her faculty role at Teachers College, Rajan holds a secondary appointment in Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology. She also co-directs the Columbia Center for Injury Science and Prevention and recently completed her term as the inaugural president of the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms (2022–2024), the first academic society focused exclusively on gun violence prevention research.
Leaders at Columbia praised her appointment. “For more than twelve years, Rajan has made significant contributions to the TC community and beyond,” said Thomas Bailey, President of Teachers College. “We eagerly anticipate the impactful work she will accomplish in her new role at Everytown.” KerryAnn O’Meara, the college’s provost and dean, added, “Her data-driven, collaborative, and engaged approach is groundbreaking and will help change policies, communities, and lives.”
Rajan’s background bridges health, education, and engineering. She earned her Ed.D. in Health and Behavior Studies and M.S. in Applied Statistics from Columbia and her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University.