By: Kevin Borrup, DrPH, JD, MPA, and Rebecca Beebe, PhD

The Hayley Petit Injury and Violence Prevention Fellowship provides an opportunity for women who are interested in the sciences to learn about injury and violence prevention from experts at Connecticut Children’s. The fellowship program honors the life and legacy of Hayley Petit and is generously supported by the Petit Family Foundation.

After starting as a summer fellowship program led by faculty and staff at Connecticut Children’s Injury Prevention Center, the Hayley Petit Injury and Violence Prevention Fellowship is now available to students year-round during spring, fall and summer sessions.  

Access the application for the Spring 2022 Hayley Petit Injury and Violence Prevention Fellowships.

Fall 2021 Fellows

After reviewing applications, the Injury Prevention Center awarded Fall 2021 fellowships to seven women:

• Alexandra Allan who is a freshman at Sacred Heart University
• Katrina Bade who is a senior at Trinity College
• Kayla Champagne who is a junior at Sacred Heart University
• Bianca D’Aguanno who graduated from Sacred Heart University in December 2021
• Isabel May who is a sophomore at Bates College
• Amina Rizwan who is a senior at Bay Path University
• Valerie Zis who is a senior at Trinity College

The students spent six weeks shadowing physicians, researchers, and others at Connecticut Children’s who are nationally-recognized experts in the injury prevention field. Sessions were mostly virtual with some in-person learning opportunities. The students wrapped up their fellowships by virtually presenting research projects to team members from the Injury Prevention Center and the Petit Family Foundation. Topics of those projects included the prevalence of suicide among LGBTQ+ youth, the link between cyberbullying and youth suicide, the prevalence of intimate partner violence in rural areas, and the prevalence of intimate partner violence through generations.

A Favorite Program

William Petit, Jr., MD, who is president of the Petit Family Foundation, watched the presentations and told the fellows that the one-on-one and two-on-one small group mentoring offered during the Hayley Petit Injury and Violence Prevention Fellowship is critical in the medial field, as opposed to large group lectures.

“This is really my favorite program and the favorite program of the grants committee and board,” said Dr. Petit, who also noted how the fellowship reminds him of his daughter Hayley, who remains frozen in his mind at the age of 17.

“She didn’t have these opportunities, but you carry that on and I really appreciate it,” said Dr. Petit.

Read more injury prevention articles on our Advancing Kids Blog.

Future Sessions

We look forward to welcoming another round of fellows to the Hayley Petit Injury and Violence Prevention Fellowship soon, with the Spring 2022 Fellowship running from February through April.

We are thankful for the ongoing support from the Petit Family Foundation, which enables us to train the next generation of health and science leaders to understand the importance of injury and violence prevention.

Learn more about the Injury Prevention Center.

Kevin Borrup, DrPH, JD, MPA, is the executive director of Connecticut Children’s Injury Prevention Center.

Rebecca Beebe, PhD, is a research scientist and academic coordinator for the Hayley Petit Injury and Violence Prevention Fellowship at Connecticut Children’s Injury Prevention Center.