Barbara Gerbert

Professor Emeritus Barbara Gerbert, PhD, is a foundational researcher in the field of domestic violence identification and response within healthcare settings. As Professor and Chair of the Division of Behavioral Sciences at the University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry, and Director of UCSF’s Center for Health Improvement and Prevention Studies, Gerbert developed the AVDR model — Ask, Validate, Document, Refer — a structured framework designed to support law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and others in identifying and responding to domestic violence and coercive control. The AVDR model places particular emphasis on the role of dental and medical practitioners as uniquely positioned first responders: professionals who see survivors regularly, often in contexts of trust, and who are trained to notice physical signs of violence that survivors may not volunteer.

The AVDR model’s real-world impact is documented most powerfully in Scotland. In 2009, Scotland’s newly formed Violence Reduction Unit adopted the framework. In the decade that followed, violence rates in Scotland decreased dramatically. Twenty-five thousand Scottish police officers were trained in domestic violence and coercive control under the leadership of Superintendent Gordon McCreadie. The results are documented in the short film Harder: A Short Film About Domestic Abuse, produced by Medics Against Violence.

On October 3, 2020, Manya Wakefield reached out to Professor Gerbert on Twitter after seeing her post about Hawaii’s newly enacted coercive control legislation — HB 2425, sponsored by Representative David Tarnas. Professor Gerbert responded with characteristic generosity, providing context, connecting the research to Scotland’s implementation, and asking the question that has driven this work ever since: how do we get more states to pass and implement laws? That exchange catalyzed the creation of the Global Coercive Control Legislation Index — launched on October 20, 2020, the first systematic legal reference of its kind.