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The University of California, Davis, has campus experts available to
discuss research and provide commentary related to guns, school violence, mental health and troubled youth.

GUN ACCESS -- Dr. Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the UC Davis Medical Center, is a national expert on gun violence and public attitudes about guns.

ASIAN AMERICANS AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES -- Shame and stigma about seeking help for mental problems are chief reasons Asian Americans, overall, tend not to use mental-health services, according to Stanley Sue, professor of psychology, psychiatry and Asian American studies.

Sue argues that the nation needs more bilingual/bicultural therapists and better community education to make psychological help more acceptable to Asian Americans, especially to first-generation families.

DISASTERS AND MENTAL HEALTH -- Dr. Peter Yellowlees, a professor of psychiatry, has undertaken a large number of forensic psychiatric examinations and been involved in creating curricula for disaster preparedness and responses, and in teaching about post-traumatic stress disorders.

Yellowlees has developed a "Disaster Mental Health Series" of continuing medical education courses that address anxiety disorders after a disaster, coping among survivors, and delivering bad news to families and survivors.

Contact: David Ong, UC Davis Health System Medical Science Public Affairs, 916-734-9049, david.ong@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.

CHILDREN'S FEARS -- In the wake of violence like the Virginia Tech shootings, it is important to reassure elementary school students about their safety without misleading them, says Anna Kato of the UC Davis School of Education.

A lecturer and supervisor of student teachers, Kato served on the commission on school violence of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

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