This week, Congress has an unprecedented opportunity to use public health to transform the nation’s future.

At stake is a set of bills that aim to prevent the next mass shooting, provide emergency funding to address the threat of Zika, and tackle the opioid epidemic.

Will Congress step up to protect the health and safety of the people they are sworn to serve?

A core tenet of public health is that prevention is the best medicine. It is too late to prevent the deaths of the 30,000 people lost last year from gun violence, but Congress has the chance to pass common-sense legislation around gun control, including to allow doctors and scientists to clinically and extensively study gun violence as a disease. We cannot continue to ignore these appalling acts of violence, especially in the wake of tragedies in Orlando, Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and Dallas. In the ER, I can resuscitate my patients who have been shot, but Congress has the ability to prevent bullets from striking many thousands.

Read More at: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/287521-the-congress-of...