~ RGVRC Affiliate Scholar ~

Spencer Cantrell, JD, is the co-lead of the National Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO) Resource Center at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. In this role, Cantrell trains and provides technical assistance to ERPO implementers nationwide and serves as a national expert and resource on extreme risk protection orders to law enforcement, attorneys, advocates, judges, healthcare providers, news media, and others.

Prior to her role at Johns Hopkins, Cantrell worked for over a decade in victim services and most recently served as the legal & advocacy director at the Greater Washington Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA), where she managed a team of attorneys and advocates to represent and assist survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. While at JCADA, Cantrell also worked on policy at the state and local levels as it affected victim-survivors. Cantrell has a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina in women’s studies & international studies and her juris doctor from George Mason University’s School of Law.

~ RGVRC Affiliate Scholar ~

Lisa Geller, MPH, is the director of implementation at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions and the co-lead of the National ERPO Resource Center (ERC). She is also a faculty member in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Geller’s work focuses on research, advocacy, and implementation of evidence-based gun violence prevention policies, including extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs) and domestic violence protective orders. As the co-lead of the ERC, Geller provides training and technical assistance to law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, clinicians, community organizations, and others involved in the ERPO process. Geller is also a mayoral appointee on the District of Columbia’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board. Geller graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in political science. She earned a master of public health (MPH) in health policy and injury and violence prevention from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Jaclyn Schildkraut, PhD, is the executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, where she leads a multidisciplinary research portfolio focused on understanding and reducing firearm violence in New York State and beyond. In this role, she oversees the Consortium’s research, grantmaking, and public engagement efforts; develops partnerships with researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and community organizations; and works to translate rigorous research into evidence-informed policy and practice. A nationally recognized expert on mass shootings and school safety, her research focuses on targeted violence prevention, emergency preparedness, and the experiences of individuals and communities affected by mass violence.

Schildkraut leads Sharing Information to Stop Mass Shootings (SISMS), a large-scale research initiative examining the behaviors, circumstances, and information-sharing processes that precede mass public shootings. The project has produced one of the most comprehensive databases of pre-attack behaviors associated with these events and a growing body of research focused on identifying opportunities for prevention and intervention. Findings from the project also are being translated into educational trainings designed to improve the recognition and reporting of concerning behaviors.

Her broader research has examined school emergency preparedness, the prevention and consequences of mass violence, behavioral indicators preceding attacks, and the experiences and long-term needs of survivors and affected communities. Schildkraut led the largest national study to date examining the effects of lockdown drills on students, educators, and school personnel, helping to identify evidence-based practices for building preparedness while minimizing unnecessary fear and anxiety. She also has conducted extensive research with mass shooting survivors and provided expert analysis to Canada’s Mass Casualty Commission, which investigated the April 2020 mass casualty event in Nova Scotia.

As executive director, Schildkraut also leads the Consortium’s efforts to strengthen the evidence base for firearm violence prevention across New York State. She oversees competitive research funding programs and works with state agencies, academic researchers, practitioners, and community partners to support research addressing pressing questions related to firearm violence and its prevention. Through these efforts, she seeks to bridge research, policy, and practice and ensure that evidence is accessible to those positioned to use it.

Schildkraut is the author or editor of numerous books on mass shootings, school safety, and firearms, including Mass Shootings: Media, Myths and Realities (2016), Columbine, 20 Years Later and Beyond: Lessons from Tragedy (2019), Lockdown Drills: Connecting Research and Best Practices for School Administrators, Teachers, and Parents (2022), and Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law (3rd ed., 2022). Her research has been published extensively in peer-reviewed journals across criminology, violence prevention, victimology, school safety, psychology, and public policy. Her research and expertise also are regularly sought by policymakers, practitioners, schools, survivors, and national and international media outlets, including CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Associated Press, Reuters, and BBC News.