Pediatric vehicular heatstroke (PVH) remains a critical public health challenge in the United States, with devastating consequences for children, families, and communities. According to the National Safety Council, an average of 37 children under the age of 15 die annually in the United States from PVH, which is 100% preventable. Alexis Kagiliery and Jan Null will delve into the specifics of PVH, providing a comprehensive analysis of the contributing factors, recent research, and national statistics. Attendees will gain insight into the roles of environmental, behavioral, and vehicular factors that lead to these preventable tragedies. They will also introduce the State Task Force Model as an actionable framework for addressing PVH as well as a call to action with practical implementation strategies to replicate and adapt within organizations and communities. Dr. Rebecca Spicer, member of the Children’s Safety Now Alliance, will moderate the webinar.
Presenters:
Alexis Kagiliery, MS is a nationally recognized leader in traffic safety with over 25 years of experience and currently serves as the Program Manager for Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke (PVH) at the National Safety Council. She has extensive expertise in child passenger safety and is dedicated to eliminating pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths through strategic partnerships, policy advocacy, and public education.
Throughout her career, Alexis has worked with key stakeholders, including NHTSA, the National Safety Council, safety researchers, and child advocacy groups, to develop and implement evidence-based solutions that prevent heatstroke-related tragedies. For 17 years at Safe Kids Worldwide, she coordinated child passenger safety and in-and-around vehicle public awareness initiatives and focused on building programs that were replicable and adaptable to communities of all sizes and demographics.
A recognized subject matter expert, Alexis served for six years on the National Child Passenger Safety Board, helping to shape national strategies for child occupant protection. She is a firm believer that collaboration is essential to expanding safety efforts and ensuring outreach reaches all communities across the U.S.
Jan Null, CCM has fifty-one years of experience as a professional meteorologist. He has a BS in Atmospheric Science from UC Davis and an MA in Geography from SJSU. Jan served as an Adjunct Professor/Lecturer at SFSU and SJSU since 1987. He is an American Meteorological Society Certified Consulting Meteorologist.
After a distinguished career of 24 years with the National Weather Service he founded Golden Gate Weather Services in 1998. He has worked on over 750 cases over the years and is frequently called on as an expert witness in weather- related litigation (CSI Weather).
One of Jan’s primary research areas is Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke and he’s one of the country’s most respected experts on this sad topic. His research, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2005, is the “go-to” paper on the topic, both in the US and abroad. This work is kept up to date online at NoHeatstroke.org, partially funded by a grant from the National Safety Council and NHTSA. These efforts have been recognized with numerous awards, including the AMS Henry T. Harrison Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Consulting Meteorologist "for a career of exemplary service as an AMS Certified Consulting Meteorologist and for his tireless work to raise public awareness on the issue of heatstroke deaths in vehicles" (2023), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2013 Public Service Award for “exceptional commitment, vision and tireless work to raise public awareness on the issue of heatstroke” (2013), and the National Weather Association 2011 Public Education Award for “awareness of the dangers of hyperthermia.”
Moderator:
Rebecca Spicer, Ph.D., MPH
Dr. Spicer is a Senior Research Scientist at Impact Research. She is a classically trained epidemiologist who has conducted research in the fields of injury control, traffic safety, and drug and alcohol abuse prevention for over 20 years. She has extensive experience in rigorous study design applied to program and policy evaluation and has directed large research projects focusing on injury and violence prevention. Dr. Spicer has a special interest in injury costs and she updated the method to calculate quality of life impacts of motor vehicle-related injuries for use in federal regulatory analyses. Currently, much of her research focuses on transportation injury epidemiology and examining the impact of advanced automotive technologies. Dr. Spicer is a Children’s Safety Now Alliance member.