VRF Leadership

We are honored to enjoy the support and involvement of a distinguished group of individuals from the public service, scientific, education and business worlds.

Officers:

• Everett L. “Red” Hodges, Chairman, Co-Founder, Violence Research Foundation
• Francis M. Crinella, PhD, Vice President and Director
• Mary Merle Hodges, Secretary, Co-Founder, Violence Research Foundation

Executive Director:

• Ronald E. Steward

Directors:

• Everett L. “Red” Hodges, Chairman, Co-Founder, Violence Research Foundation
• Francis M. Crinella, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, University of California, Irvine
• James Carter, MD, Dr.P.H., Professor Emeritus, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
• John Donaldson, PhD, Professor of Neurotoxicology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
• James P. Gray, Presiding Judge, Orange County Superior Court, California, Retired
• Louis A. Gottschalk, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, University of California, Irvine (In memoriam-please see article below)
• Philip R. Lee, MD, PhD, Professor of Social Medicine (Emeritus); Senior Advisor, Phillip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
• Roger D. Masters, PhD, Research Professor; Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor of Government (Emeritus), Dartmouth College, Vermont
• Robert Presley, California State Senator, Secretary of the California Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, Retired
• Howard G. Tucker, PhD, Professor of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine
• Stanley van der Noort, MD, Professor and Chair, Retired, Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine
• John Wacker, Chairman, The Wacker Foundation, Dallas, Texas
• James Q. Wilson, PhD, Professor of Management and Public Policy, University of California, Los Angeles

Louis A. Gottschalk, M. D., Ph. D. --- In Memoriam

Notice was received recently of the passing of our friend, Louis A. Gottschalk, distinguished neuroscientist, professor, and member of our Board of Directors for over 20 years.

It was Dr. Gottschalk’s work in the late 1980’s that first identified that the essential element, manganese, is significantly elevated in the head hair of violent criminals, thus establishing he first  recognized biological for criminal behavior. His work led to further scientific work, including the discovery that excessive manganese levels in humans destroys the dopamine neurotransmitter, which is linked to the occurrence of attention- deficit/ hyperactivity disorder.

We are deeply grateful for his work, some of it sponsored by us, and for his support of the Violence Research Foundation, as well as the community at large.The Foundation received the news of his passing in a letter from David N. Bailey, M.D., Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at UCI.