Christopher Barsotti, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

Christopher Barsotti, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

Program Director, AFFIRM at the Aspen Institute, Attending Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, MA

Christopher Barsotti, MD, is the co-founder and former CEO of the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM), a non-profit organization established in 2017 with the goal of reducing firearm injuries in the United States through health-based, non-partisan approaches. In its short existence, AFFIRM gained a national reputation as a highly effective neutral convener, collaborator, and innovator on the issue of firearm injury prevention. AFFIRM brings together health systems, community stakeholders, emergency service providers, and firearms experts, all committed to reducing gun-related threats, injuries, and deaths.

Dr. Barsotti is also a practicing emergency physician serving patients in western Massachusetts, southern Vermont, and upstate New York, caring for patients with firearm-related risks and injuries. In addition, as a frontline physician, health educator, and certified 4-H youth rifle safety instructor, Dr. Barsotti develops curricula for undergraduate, medical, and professional continuing medical education (CME) on the topics of violence and firearm injury prevention and is a regular contributor on injury prevention for various medical media outlets.

Dr. Barsotti is the past chair of the Trauma and Injury Prevention Section of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) Committees on Preparedness and Violence Intervention and Prevention, and the American College of Surgeons Firearm Strategy Team. Additionally, he has contributed to numerous consensus agendas on priorities for firearm injury reduction, including at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, American Bar Association, American College of Surgeons, American Academy of Pediatrics, ACEP Technical Advisory Group for Firearm Research, among others.