Pediatric Emergency Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Eric Fleegler is a pediatric emergency physician and health services researcher in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Fleegler attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed his residency in pediatrics at the Boston Combined Residency Program. He completed fellowships in pediatric emergency medicine and health services research at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Fleegler has focused his research related to firearm violence on firearm legislation, epidemiology, risk factors, and disparities. He has looked in-depth at the role of firearm legislation at the state level and its role in the reduction of firearm fatalities. His research has evaluated the relationship between the presence of Child Access Prevention laws and lower children firearm fatality rates, removing firearms from people with domestic violence restraining orders and lower domestic violence homicides, and the overall relationship between firearm legislation and lower rates of firearm homicides, suicides, and unintentional fatalities. He is the coeditor of the book, Pediatric Firearm Injuries and Fatalities: The Clinician’s Guide to Policies and Approaches to Firearm Harm Prevention. Dr. Fleegler’s additional research focuses on the development and evaluation of tools to help families with health-related social needs—he developed the system “HelpSteps,” which is now the social service referral tool used by United Way/Mass2-1-1 to help over 100,000 families annually. He is codirector of the Essentials of the Profession: Social Medicine course at Harvard Medical School. His research has been quoted by President Barack Obama and referenced by the Supreme Court.