Eric Fleegler, M.D., MPH, is a nonresident fellow in the Center for Health Policy’s Firearm Injury Prevention and Safety (FIPS) Program. His primary area of research is firearm injury prevention.

Fleegler is a pediatric emergency physician and health services researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is a senior research investigator at the MGH Gun Violence Prevention Center. 

For over two decades, his innovative research has worked to improve the lives of children and families. He was a pioneer in the development and evaluation of tools to help families with health-related social needs; he developed “HelpSteps,” a system for assessment and referral of families to social services that is now the backbone referral system for the United Way/Mass2-1-1, used by over 500,000 people annually.

Fleegler’s firearm injury prevention has looked in depth at the role of firearm legislation at the state level and its role in the reduction of firearm fatalities, as well as the epidemiology and disparities of firearm injuries and fatalities. His research has been quoted by President Barack Obama and referenced by the Supreme Court. He co-established the Children's Hospital Association Research in Gun-Related Events (CHARGE) research group. He also co-edited the textbook “Pediatric Firearm Injuries and Fatalities: The Providers Guide to Policies and Approaches to Harm Prevention.”

Fleegler completed his undergraduate studies in political science at Brown University Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and his master’s in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health.