Susan Goodwin Gerberich

Susan Elizabeth Goodwin Gerberich (Mayo Professor of Public Health Emerita, University of Minnesota), deceased June 4, 2023, was born in Cortland, New York on September 8, 1938, and was educated at Crouse Irving Hospital, Syracuse, New York (R.N.) and at the University of Minnesota (B.S., M.S.P.H. and PhD in Environmental Health). In response to her observations of severe injuries and deaths in high school football, she launched the first major comprehensive study of football injuries in Minnesota high schools in 1978, that included documentation of high rates of concussions and spinal trauma symptoms, among other injuries. Other major studies of sports-related injuries, including hockey, were subsequently developed and conducted by her with a research team. Subsequently, she joined the School of Public Health faculty full-time, 1983-2021, where she developed a major teaching and research program in injury epidemiology and prevention that included the first federally funded training program in occupational health and safety. In concert with her background, these efforts were stimulated by her pioneer mentors in the injury field, Professor Susan P, Baker, Dr. Leon S. Robertson, and Dr. William Haddon, Jr., who conveyed the message, "Injuries are Not Accidents," a mantra repeated to her colleagues and students over decades - a mantra that is also engraved on her gravestone! Internationally recognized as an injury epidemiologist, her population-based research and resulting extensive publications, in concert with her students and research team, addressed numerous injury-related problems, including: agricultural-related injuries in a five-state region; a variety of occupationally-related injuries that included violence against nurses, violence against educators/teachers, and janitor-related injuries. During her career, she was the Inaugural (2012-2021) Chaired Leon S. Robertson Professor in Injury Prevention and Former Director (2007-2019), Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety - a federally funded Education and Research Center. She was also a Director and Co-Director, for the Regional Injury Prevention Research Center and the Center for Violence Prevention and Control, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota - centers that she developed. Awards included: Academy of Distinguished Teachers membership for her Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education Award, University of Minnesota (2017); Distinguished Career Award, American Public Health Association, Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section (2011); and the Excellence in Science Award - American Public Health Association, Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section ( 2004). Dr. Gerberich, the daughter of Elizabeth Sarah Pratt and Arthur George Goodwin (deceased), is survived by her: husband, Dr. William (Bill) Warren Gerberich whom she met in Syracuse, NY while on an only blind date (but not with Bill) and with whom she has been married for 63 years; brother and sister-in-law, Charles Hugh and Barbara Goodwin; sons and daughters-in-law, Dr. Bradley Kent and Amanda Lujan Gerberich and Brian Keith and Montine Green Gerberich, and her daughter and son-in-law, Beth Clarice Gerberich and Darryl Cheney; grandchildren, Sophia Jane Gerberich, Kasan Jarren Zayas, and Brent Cheney (Elizabeth) and Erin Cheney (Richard Lawless); great-grandchildren, Charles Theodore and Oliver Lincoln Cheney; nephew, Juris Doctor, Chad (Dr. Erin Logue) Goodwin; and grand-nieces, Caroline Logue and Sadie Logue Goodwin. She is incredibly proud of her family and most grateful for all of their love and support. Further important are her former ~140 Master's and Doctoral students who were also an integral portion of her life and for which there is also great pride in their successes. A Celebration of Life will be held on Thursday, June 29th at 10 AM, with visitation one hour prior, at the Lakewood Memorial Chapel, 3600 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55408. A reception will follow at the Lakewood Garden Mausoleum and Reception Center. Interment will be at Lakewood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations for: • University of Minnesota Foundation Fund #21735 Susan Goodwin Gerberich Faculty Fund [The Fund and any holders of the named position supported by this Fund will be referred to as the Susan Goodwin Gerberich Chair in Injury Epidemiology and Prevention -- Endowed Professorship https://makingagift.umn.edu/give/fund.html?id=21735 • University of Minnesota Foundation Endowment Fund #17058 Susan Goodwin Gerberich Fellowship in Injury Epidemiology and Prevention (For support of MS and PhD students) https://makingagift.umn.edu/donate/fund-contact-info.html?&fundCode=17058#formstep-1 • Minneapolis Foundation, Account #440503, Dr. Susan Goodwin Gerberich APHA ICEHS Section Student Paper Competition Award Fund - a national award she established in 1992 (Chair, 1992-2012) to foster and reward quality research in the injury field. https://bit.ly/3m29SaZ • Donor's Charity of Choice

Tributes

Susan Goodwin Gerberich

September 8, 1938 - June 4, 2023

Tributes

Susan Goodwin Gerberich

September 8, 1938 - June 4, 2023

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