Joseph Sakran

Joseph V. Sakran (born August 3, 1977, Falls Church, Virginia) is an American trauma surgeon, public health researcher, health policy advocate, and activist.

Sakran was shot in the throat by a stray bullet at the age of 17, which led him to advocate for gun violence prevention.

Early life and education Sakran was born in Falls Church, Virginia to immigrant parents. He attended high school in Burke, Virginia. As a high school senior, at a local playground after attending a football game at Lake Braddock Secondary School, he was struck in the neck from a stray bullet fired into a crowd. With his windpipe ruptured and carotid artery severed, he was saved by Dr. Robert Ahmed, a trauma surgeon, and Dr. Dipankar Mukherjee, a vascular surgeon, at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Sakran earned an undergraduate degree in biology and minor in chemistry from George Mason University in 1999. He graduated with a Doctor of Medicine from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Medical School for International Health in 2005 and earned a Master of Public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2003. He also holds a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He completed his general surgery residency training at Inova Fairfax Hospital and then fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care, and Emergency General Surgery.

Sakran was inducted to the National Academy of Medicine in 2023.

In 2024, he received the 2024 President Frontier Award from Johns Hopkins University.

Sakran also serves as Board Chair for Brady and is its Chief Medical Officer. In addition, he is the Chair of This Is Our Lane Advisory Council.

Gun violence prevention advocacy In 2016, Sakran's activism first achieved national recognition when he founded Doctors for Hillary, supporting the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, who had made gun violence prevention a central tenet of her campaign. He was recognized by Secretary Clinton for his work.

His research in public health and specifically firearm injury prevention has been recognized by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Academy Health. A recent study published in Health Affairs, Emergency Department Visits for Firearm-Related Injuries in the United States, 2006-14 was given an honorable mention as one of the 2017 Outstanding Article of the Year Award by Health Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP).

Sakran has also written numerous opinion pieces for The Atlantic and CNN. In February 2019, Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA), invited Sakran as his guest to the State of the Union, recognizing his support for gun control as a trauma surgeon. On February 6, 2019, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee invited Sakran to testify at a hearing.

In 2019, Sakran was recognized as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by George Mason University. In the same year, he was also selected for the Presidential Leadership Scholars program, where his project focused on storage of firearms. In the same year, Sakran was selected as one of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows by the National Academy of Medicine. He has been working on legislative and regulatory issues since the 2010s.

Media 2015: Featured by Harvard Kennedy School, "Surgeon Joseph Sakran MC/MPA 2015 advocates for gun reform" 2018: Featured in CNN, "Victim of gun violence returns to the E.R., this time as the surgeon" 2018: Featured in MSNBC, "Dr. Joseph Sakran On Gun Violence: We Are Facing A Public Health Crisis" 2018: Featured in CNN Town Hall with Chris Cuomo, "Armas de fuego: ¿Enfrenta Estados Unidos una crisis de salud pública?" 2018: NPR interview, "A Trauma Surgeon Who Survived Gun Violence Is Taking On The NRA" 2018: CNN interview, "Dr. Joseph Sakran: Gun violence victim responses to NRA" 2019: House Judiciary Testimony 2019: Story in the Public Square 2019: Featured in The Atlantic, "Why Doctors Are Taking on the NRA" 2024: Featured in The Guardian: "He was shot in the throat. Now he saves gun victims as a trauma surgeon in Baltimore"

Selected publications