Co-Director of Government Affairs
Vivek Ashok, MD FAAP is a general pediatrician and internist who works in Philadelphia. He is a post-doctoral research fellow in the National Clinician Scholars Program at the Perelman School of Medicine, the Penn Injury Science Center, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Center for Violence Prevention.
At Rush Medical College in Chicago, he steered his school’s Student Against Gun Violence organization and invited community violence prevention experts to speak to students. He completed his residency at the University of Pittsburgh. There, he co-chaired the pediatrics residency advocacy group at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and became an Advocacy Committee Member for the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Through these opportunities, he has collaborated with statewide firearm violence prevention organization to pass evidence-based legislation in Pennsylvania.
His research interests include equitable and racism-conscious implementation of firearm violence prevention policies in clinical settings, understanding the impact of firearm policies on healthcare utilization, policymaker language surrounding gun violence, and standardized integration and uptake of safe storage counseling into preventive care visits, and using restorative justice as a tool to address racial harm in clinical settings.
Education and Training:
– BA, Washington University in St. Louis, 2014
– MD, Rush Medical College, 2019
– Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency, University of Pittsburgh, 2023
Awards and Honors:
– Ethan A. Shepley Award, Washington University in St. Louis, 2014
– Dean’s Office Summer Research Fellowship Award, Rush Medical College, 2016
– Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society Member, Rush Medical College, 2018
– Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism Honor Society, Rush Medical College, 2018
– Walter W. Tunnessen, Jr., MD Award, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 2022
– Paul C. Gaffney Pediatric Hospital Medicine Award, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2023
– Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Advocacy Award, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2023
Publications:
– Tandon M, Othman AH, Ashok V, Stein GS, Pratap J. The Role of Runx2 in Facilitating Autophagy in Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells. Journal of Cellular Physiology. 2018 Jan;233(1):559-571. PMID: 28345763
– Ashok V, Kent P. To Transplant or Not to Transplant: Late-Onset Type 2 Primary HLH: Case report and literature review. Journal of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. 2019 Aug; 41(6):482-488 PMID: 31219909.
– Ashok V, et. al. “Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention” Blueprint for Children 2020—Policy Statement. Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Pennsylvania Chapter. 2023 Aug; 5, 8, 14.
– Ashok V, et. al. “Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention” Blueprint for Children 2023—Policy Statement. Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Pennsylvania Chapter. 2023 Aug; 5, 15-16.
Media Mentions:
– https://twitter.com/RepMGS/status/1697691324776931369?t=WCl4JnhaSIHEC1VMnIoloA&s=19
– https://www.ceasefirepa.org/press-release/congress-must-act-to-keep-kids-safe-this-school-year/
– https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-activists-lawmakers-push-federal-assault-weapons-ban/
a safer world for them... 