David Sleet


David A. Sleet is an American scientist recognized for championing the application of behavioral science to unintentional injury prevention and helping to establish injury prevention as a global public health concern. He has published hundreds of articles and book chapters and was co-editor of the Handbook of Injury and Violence Prevention.; Injury and Violence Prevention: Behavioral Science Theories; Derryberry’s Educating for Health; and the international prize-winning World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention.

Career

In 2016, Dr. Sleet retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia where he served as the Associate Director for Science in the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. He concurrently served as an adjunct professor at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. Before joining CDC, Dr. Sleet taught and conducted research at San Diego State University, directed the Road Accident Research Unit at the University of Western Australia, and worked as a visiting scientist at the United States Department of Transportation and the VTT of Finland.
Dr. Sleet served on a systematic review team that led to a Community Preventive Services Task Force recommendation to lower the legal blood alcohol content limit to 0.08 percent for drivers in the United States. This recommendation helped inform the U.S. Congress which mandated states adopt the stricter BAC limit of 0.08 percent by October 2003 or risk losing a portion of their highway funding. By 2004 all 50 states had passed 0.08 percent laws for drivers, making it the new national standard.

Awards

Dr. Sleet has received numerous public health awards including the following:
He has served on the following editorial boards: