James A. Mercy is the Associate Director for Science of the Division of Violence Prevention in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He received his PhD in sociology from Emory University in Atlanta in 1982. After his graduation, Dr. Mercy began working at CDC in a newly formed activity to examine violence as a public health problem. Over the next two decades he has played a fundamental role in developing the public health approach to violence. He has conducted and overseen numerous studies of the epidemiology of youth suicide, family violence, homicide, and firearm injuries. Most recently he served as a co-editor of the World Report on Violence and Health that was released on October 3, 2002 by the World Health Organization.