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My guest today is a maxillofacial surgeon that's relating to the face,
mouth, neck and jaw with an unusual side hustle, fighting crime.
That does make him sound a bit like a scientific superhero, which actually isn't far off the mark,
because Jonathan Shepard not only recognised the link between public violence and emergency hospital admissions,
he did something about it.
Jonathan is an emeritus professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Cardiff University,
where he's also director of their Crime, Security and Intelligence Innovation Institute.
He devised the Cardiff Model for Violence Prevention,
a programme where hospitals share data about admissions relating to violent attacks with local authorities.
And beyond that, as head of the University's Violence Prevention Group,
Jonathan has studied various aspects of this behaviour to deliver evidence-based solutions,
from alcohol restrictions in hotspots to less breakable beer glasses in pubs.
The results have been significant,
delivering reductions in hospital admissions and violent attacks recorded by police.
And that's not limited to the Welsh capital.
Today, the Cardiff model is used in cities across the UK and indeed the world.
If achieving that doesn't count as a superpower, I don't know what does.
Professor Jonathan Shepherd, welcome to the Life Scientific.
Thanks very much for inviting a clinical scientist.