Daniel Semenza PhD
About
Dr. Daniel Semenza is Director of Research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and Associate Professor at Rutgers University. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from Emory University in 2018. He is the Treasurer for the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms. His first book, The Toll It Takes: Gun Violence and America’s Hidden Public Health Crisis, will be released with Princeton University Press in February 2027.
Dr. Semenza’s research examines gun violence exposure, community safety, and health inequities through an interdisciplinary public health and criminological lens. His work focuses on the social and health-related consequences of violence, the intersections of violence and inequality, and evidence-based approaches to violence prevention. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in leading journals across criminology, public health, medicine, and sociology.
His research and commentary have been featured in national and international media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, NPR, PBS News, NBC News, CBS News, Newsweek, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Trace.
Dr. Semenza serves on the editorial boards of Criminology, Homicide Studies, and Journal of Criminal Justice. His teaching focuses on gun violence prevention, violence and health, criminological theory, juvenile delinquency, and urban inequality.
Research Interests
Dr. Semenza’s research examines the intersections of gun violence, violence exposure, community safety, and population health, with a particular emphasis on how violence contributes to social and health inequities. His work integrates perspectives from criminology, sociology, and public health to study the causes and consequences of violence across the life course, including the impacts of victimization, criminal justice exposure, and structural disadvantage on individual and community well-being. His research also focuses on evidence-based violence prevention strategies and policies aimed at improving public safety and reducing health disparities.
Affiliations
- Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms
- American Society of Criminology
- Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at SUNY