University of Louisville

Dr. Al-Dajani’s research examines the momentary risk and protective factors of suicidal thoughts using intensive longitudinal designs. More recently, she has begun to examine suicide risk and protective factors in adolescents and emerging adults of diverse backgrounds. Her recently funded AFSP grant focuses on momentary risk and protective factors of suicidal ideation in emerging adults who recently visited psychiatric emergency services - in this study, questions related to experiences of discrimination are included to better understand the relationship between day-to-day experiences of discrimination and momentary suicidal ideation in minoritized populations.

Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Alvarez's research and clinical work focus on improving adolescent behavioral health outcomes, with an emphasis on Latinx and immigrant youth and their families. She has particular interests in the prevention of suicidal behavior and in the integration of behavioral health care across clinical and community settings serving youth. Dr. Alvarez is the principal investigator of an NIMH-funded career development award that focuses on using family-based strategies to prevent suicide among immigrant-origin youth. She is also co-principal investigator of a mixed methods participatory research project that uses the PhotoVoice method to elicit youth perspectives on their communities, and she collaborates on multiple studies focused on identifying and reducing behavioral health disparities.

Fordham University

Dr. Andover’s research focuses on the development and evaluation of treatments for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide, psychophysiological processes in self-injury, and factors that contribute to the severity of NSSI and the expression of specific forms of self-injury.  As a cognitive-behavioral therapist, Dr. Andover uses empirically-supported techniques to treat clients ranging in age from childhood to adulthood and integrates research and treatment through treatment development and outcome research. ​​

University of Minnesota

Dr. Areba’s research focuses on addressing ethnoracial inequities in adolescent and young adult mental health outcomes and coping. Her work is centered on racially minoritized young populations, with a special emphasis on those with refugee and immigrant backgrounds and Black groups. She examines how societal and individual level factors influence vulnerability to suicide behavior, including sociocultural experiences and interpretations of illness, discrimination and public policies. She uses community-based and survey based methods to conduct her research. 

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Dr. Bettis’s research seeks to elucidate key mechanisms of efficacious interventions for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors in adolescents. Her program of research includes theoretical and empirical investigations of coping and emotion regulation processes in youth and families. This work aims to both improve existing family-based interventions for adolescent self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, and to inform the development of novel interventions targeting emotion regulation processes. Dr. Bettis is also interested in improving our understanding of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors in LGBTQ+ youth, as well as how interventions can best serve these youth. ​​​​

University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Biernesser’s research focuses on developing digital mental health interventions to reduce the impact of negative online experiences and prevent suicide risk among adolescents, particularly adolescents who are underserved within traditional mental health services. She has focused an independent line of research on examining ways to understand and mitigate the impact of negative social media experiences, particularly focusing on cyberbullying given its linkage to suicide risk among youth. She is PI of a K23 early career award focused on developing and testing a digital suicide prevention intervention for underserved youth who have experienced cyberbullying. She is also PI of an Early Career Researcher Innovation Grant funded by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, focused on developing a digital suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth. Additionally, she is co-leading a study that aims to reduce depression and suicide risk among adolescents who have had online victimization experiences, particularly Black/African American and LGBTQ+ youth, as well as a methods innovation project studying the feasibility and acceptability of using social media-based algorithms to detect cyberbullying and suicide risk among adolescents.

Yale University School of Medicine

Dr. Blumberg’s research seeks to understand the causes of mood and related disorders across the lifespan and of suicide risk. Her program focuses on multimodal neuroimaging research integrated with translational research approaches to identify brain circuitry differences and generate strategies to target them for early detection, interventions and prevention. This has included research on differences in the structure and function of frontal systems in adolescents and young adults with mood disorders and suicide thoughts and behaviors (STBs). She is also investigating brain circuitry associated with STBs across mood and psychotic disorders in adults. She and her team are studying a psychobehavioral telehealth intervention “BE-SMART” (Brain Emotion Circuitry Targeted Self-Monitoring and Regulation Therapy) to improve emotion regulation through the regularization of daily rhythms.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Dr. Boyd’s research focuses on maternal depression, especially among ethnically diverse women, and the prevention of depression in their offspring, who are at increased for suicidal behaviors. She has expanded this research to focus on assessment and risk and protective factors for youth depressive disorders and suicide.  As a clinical psychologist, she provides empirically supported interventions to youth with depression and suicidal behaviors and is involved with quality improvement projects with these patients for dissemination of knowledge to inform practice.

William Paterson University

Dr. Chesin studies biobehavioral risk factors for suicide attempt and ideation (namely cognitive control as measured by the Stroop Interference effect and stress response as indicated by HRV), third-wave behavioral interventions to prevent suicide, and risk and resiliency among suicidal Latina emerging adults. 

Oklahoma State University

Dr. Cole is an enrolled tribal member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma. Dr. Cole is currently a Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow at Oklahoma State University. Her research encompasses the examination of cultural, interpersonal, and cognitive and behavioral risk and protective factors for suicide in ethnic/racial minority groups, with a particular focus on American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN)/Indigenous populations. Current and future research projects involve examining health behaviors, including alcohol and substance use, to inform suicide prevention efforts in AI/AN/Indigenous populations. 

University of Rochester

Dr. Denton’s research evaluates evidenced-based suicide prevention strategies, including means restriction and staff/caregiver interpersonal relations, on youth suicidal behaviors, in the limited resource setting of Guyana. She seeks to develop, test, and disseminate primary and secondary interventions to improve adolescent mental health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) or resource-poor areas in the US.

Brown Medical Center

Dr. Duarte-Velez’s work has focused on the assessment and treatment of Latinx youth with suicidal behaviors in the context of their family and society. Her research interests are to develop and tailor treatments for diverse populations. She started her career as a clinical researcher in Puerto Rico, where she developed a CBT protocol that addresses culture and development as central components in treatment, the Socio-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicidal Behaviors (SCBT-SB). She transported this protocol from Puerto Rico to Rhode Island to expand its applicability to Latinx youth living in the USA through an NIMH training grant. Dr. Duarte-Vélez completed a pilot randomized clinical trial (RCT) of the SCBT-SB versus Treatment as Usual (TAU) in a “real world” setting. She is conducting a randomized clinical trial to test the efficacy and effectiveness of the SCBT-SB funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Heath Disparities.

University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Gulbas utilizes advanced qualitative and ethnographic research methods to explore the links among culture, family dynamics, and disparities in suicidal behaviors among Latina teens. Through the lens of medical anthropology, Dr. Gulbas’s research has focused on the subtle, but significant, cultural variations (e.g., Latino/American; country of origin/country of destination; peer/family) that shape family dynamics and influence the onset of suicidal behaviors. To date, her work has been published in journals including Social Science & Medicine, Qualitative Health Research, and Family Process.

Rutgers University and University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Hamilton’s research seeks to identify modifiable risk factors for the onset and worsening of adolescent suicidal ideation and behavior in everyday life. Applying a developmental psychopathology approach, her research centers on three questions: 1) Which adolescents are most at risk for first onset and worsening of suicidality?, 2) When are adolescents most at risk and through what modifiable processes?, and 3) How does technology both impact risk and improve our ability to capture these risk processes in real time? Integrating these questions, she is currently the PI on a NIMH-funded career development award that examines social media and sleep disruption in risk for suicidality among adolescents using an intensive monitoring design. Dr. Hamilton’s research aims to harness the power of advancing technology to better identify and detect suicide risk in real time to improve suicide prevention among diverse youth.

City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services

Dr. Hausmann-Stabile’s research examines mental health disparities in the U.S. and Latin America, with a focus on girls’ suicidal behaviors. An expert in qualitative research methods, she has contributed to universal and group-specific issues that explain Latina teens’ suicidal behaviors; family dynamics of suicidal girls; acculturation and development; and issues of culturally competent service-delivery. Her next steps are to: (a) translate her work into prevention and treatment strategies for these vulnerable girls; (b) advance the science of transnational prevention and treatment dissemination by understanding the processes involved in cultural adaptation and implementation of evidence-based practices for suicidal children across Latin America; and (c) generate public health strategies addressing suicidal behaviors among children in Latin America.

Hunter College, CUNY

Dr. Holmes studies health disparities among autistic adolescents and adults. Given the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among autistic individuals, she is particularly focused on populations that are at particularly risk, including sexually and gender diverse individuals.

Columbia University

Dr. Gould’s has obtained extensive research experience in the area of youth psychiatric epidemiology and suicide prevention, as the Principal Investigator or co-Investigator on over 25 federally funded grants from the National Institute of Health (NIMH), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).   She has served as a member or consultant on numerous state and federal suicide prevention initiatives, including serving as a Leadership Consultant on the Surgeon General’s Working Group for the development of the first National Suicide Prevention Strategy.  Her research - most notably in the areas of suicide contagion/clusters; screening and assessment of suicide risk; and crisis interventions - has been published in high impact journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Archives of General Psychiatry, Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet Psychiatry, and Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.  Her research on the evaluation of suicide crisis interventions – including traditional telephone crisis services as well as crisis interventions using new media (e.g., chat and text crisis services) - was used by SAMHSA and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to support the passage of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020, which designated 988 as the national number for suicide prevention and mental health crisis response. Over the course of her decades-long career, Dr. Gould’s applied clinical epidemiologic research has laid the groundwork for many state, national and international suicide prevention programs. 

Fielding Graduate University

Dr. Hollingsworth’s research focuses on interpersonal risk and protective factors for suicide among racial and ethnic minorities. He is also interested in help-seeking intentions for suicidal ideation among African-Americans. Some of his work can be found in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Black Psychology, and Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior.

Dr. Jacobson’s area of research interest falls within the epidemiology, classification, and treatment of self-injurious behaviors, both suicidal and non-suicidal, among teenagers and young adults. Her work was instrumental in the inclusion of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in the DSM-5. Dr. Jacobson’s more recent work has focused on the role of emotional expressiveness in risk for suicide and self-injury, as well as the interaction of technology and self-injurious behaviors.

Hunter College, CUNY

Dr. Katz’s research is largely devoted to the health and wellbeing of youth who emancipate from the foster care system, and the ways that these youth could be best supported. She is currently focused on how best to assess mental illness and suicidal ideation in this group of youth.

Alcohol Research Group at Public Health Institute

Dr. Lui applies a life-course perspective to examine health risk behaviors (including alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs) and mental health during the transition from adolescence into young adulthood through two approaches. First, her research focuses on social determinants of health and contextual factors on health risk behaviors among adolescents and young adults using population-level, administrative, and longitudinal datasets, and mixed-methods designs. Second, through collaboration with community organizations, in particular those that serve Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, Dr. Lui works to translate research findings into practice and to build organizational capacity for families, schools and communities to ensure opportunities for successful transitions into adulthood. 

University of Texas at San Antonio

Dr. Meca’s research focus is on identity development across various domains (i.e., ethnic/racial, academic, military, and parental identity) and the links between identity and psychosocial functioning (e.g., well-being, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, etc.) and health risk behaviors (e.g., alcohol use, risk-sex taking behavior, etc.). Although Dr. Meca’s research has focused on identity across various domains, the majority of his research has focused cultural identity, acculturation, and nativist stressors that contribute to mental health among Latinx populations, and more broadly, among ethnic/racial minorities.

University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Meza’s research focuses on understanding the developmental pathways to self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) among adolescents and emerging adults. In particular, her work focuses on understanding sociocultural risk and protective processes related to SITBs among justice impacted Latinx youth. Clinically, Dr. Meza also provides bilingual evidence-based care to youth that engage in SITBs. Dr. Meza is currently collaborating on several projects focusing on risk detection and interventions for SITBs among adolescents and young adults. 

UNC-Chapel Hill

Dr. Miller’s work focuses on the neurobiology of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors among youth. Additionally, he is particularly interested in within-person models of proximal risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. Dr. Miller’s lab has a specific focus on how early childhood adversity influences brain development and subsequently contributes risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors among adolescents. Dr. Miller’s research combines knowledge from developmental psychopathology with developmental cognitive neuroscience to identify neural mechanisms of risk for suicide and self-injury. His studies include lab based assesments as well as longitudinal designs to understand trajectories of suicide risk.

Brown Medical Center

Dr. Nugent's research seeks to characterize neurobiological and psychosocial influences during high risk periods of stress and transition, to develop informed and novel secondary and tertiary interventions. Her current NIMH funded research examines adolescent in vivo emotion reactivity as related to social context in the real world during the high-risk transition from inpatient psychiatric hospitalization for suicidal thoughts and behaviors to their home environments. Dr. Nugent has presented as invited workshops through NIEHS and SAMHSA as well as NIMH, including a talk at a 2016 NIMH workshop on “An RDoC approach to research for rapid translation for treatment of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.”

Boston Children’s Hospital

Dr. O’Brien’s research is focused on the development and testing of brief interventions for suicidal adolescents and their families, with additional specializations in substance use, interventions which utilize technology, and athlete mental health and suicide prevention. She is currently working on an NIMH-funded project to test the effectiveness of a multi-modal positive affect intervention for adolescents psychiatrically hospitalized for suicide risk and an NINR-funded study to assess the effectiveness of a motivational intervention delivered by behavioral health clinicians for vaccine uptake by Latinx adults with mental illness. She is also developing and testing a peer community support platform designed to enhance college athlete mental health and wellness.

Yeshiva University

Dr. Ortin’s research focuses on understanding the developmental pathways of suicidal behavior from childhood to young adulthood. She is interested in identifying the age-specific risk factors and mechanisms associated with suicidal behavior at each developmental period. She was awarded a Pilot Grant from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (2017-2019) to study the intergeneration transmission of suicidal behavior with colleagues at NYS Psychiatric Institute and different universities in Finland.

Rutgers University

Dr. Oshin’s research seeks to increase access, relevance, and engagement of mental health services for adolescents and young adults of color, especially those struggling with suicide ideation. Much of her research has investigated cultural values, family factors, and within-group factors (such as ethnic-racial identity). Dr. Oshin’s current research focuses on enhancing treatment engagement of adolescents and young adults of color in empirically-supported treatments for suicide, such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Ross’s research focuses on primarily on the development and testing of family-based preventive interventions that reduce suicide risk in adolescents. Her work also focuses on adapting evidence-based preventive interventions for use in a variety of settings across the health care continuum and identifying effective dissemination and implementation processes and mechanisms that increase the uptake of these evidence-based practices.

Monmouth University

Dr. Scott’s research focuses on suicide prevention of youth and young adults.  Her work extends from evaluations of school-based screening for suicide-risk to evaluations of educational approaches and programs for suicide prevention.  Dr. Scott has published extensively in the area of suicide prevention, both contributing original research as well as educational material.  She is a co-author of the second book of the Lifelines Trilogy, entitled Lifelines Intervention: Helping Students at Risk for Suicide, which takes a whole school approach to suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention.  Dr. Scott has participated in several national working groups on Upstream Suicide Prevention and Developmentally-appropriate Warning Signs for Suicide Prevention.  Beyond research and curriculum development, Dr. Scott has trained mental health professionals, faculty, and students in suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention strategies.

University of Rochester

Dr. Sheftall’s research focuses on the discovery of developmental and familial mechanisms (e.g., behavioral, neurocognitive, parenting) in early to middle childhood that confer vulnerability for future suicidal behavior. Her current NIMH-funded research investigates early vulnerability factors in youth with a parental history of suicidal behavior. It is Dr. Sheftall’s hope that her research will help frame targets for intervention to reduce the incidence of a first suicide attempt in youth at high risk.

Loyola University Chicago

Dr. Singer's clinical and research interests focus on interventions for suicidal and cyberbullied youth; service access and service utilization; and use of technology in education and clinical practice. He is author over 75 publications, including Suicide in Schools: A Practitioner's Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, and Postvention. He is a founding member of #SPSM, an online suicide prevention social media community. He is an Associate Professor at Loyola University Chicago's School of Social Work, Past-President of the American Association of Suicidology, an Advisory Board Member for the JED Foundation and Suicide Prevention Research Center, and co-lead for the Social Work Grand Challenge initiative "Harness Technology for Social Good." He is the founder and host of the award winning Social Work Podcast (www.socialworkpodcast.com), the first podcast by and for social workers.

San Diego State University

Dr. Vargas’ research focuses on ameliorating depression and suicide disparities among vulnerable communities, including young adult and adolescent groups exhibiting higher rates of risk (e.g., LGBTQ) and lower access to specialty mental health care (e.g., Latinx). Her work examines risk and resilience factors related to disparities (e.g., intersectional minority stress and discrimination) and the dissemination of community-partnered and culturally adapted mental health interventions.

University of Michigan

Dr. Wexler's research focuses on suicide prevention, wellness/resilience, and learning.  Her research engages participants in all levels of the process, responds to cultural and community priorities, and builds on and promotes personal and collective assets. Funded by the NIMH, she is currently working with community partners and academics to pilot "Promoting Community Conversations to End Suicide (PC CARES), which uses critical pedagogy to mobilize community members for strategic and collaborative suicide prevention and wellness initiatives.  Her work also uses Intergenerational Dialogue Exchange and Action (IDEA) -- a participatory research method -- to engage young people in efforts to find local strengths, skills, and wisdom through cross-generational and community-based investigations that enhance youth possibilities for action and strengthen their social connections within and outside of their home communities.

Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Wilcox  is involved in several state of Maryland and National suicide prevention initiatives.  She co-leads a federally funded project focused on conducting data linkage and informatics approaches to utilize existing data resources to improve suicide risk identification and prevention. She is also currently involved in several universal prevention projects in schools, primary care, emergency departments and college campus settings.

Thomas Jefferson University

Dr. Zullo's research focuses on youth suicide prevention with an overarching theme of improving the delivery of evidence-based interventions to at-risk youth. He has utilized the framework of the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide to design novel clinical approaches to managing cognitions of burdensomeness among suicidal adolescents and has collaborated on a project using a smartphone app for safety planning and emotion regulation. Dr. Zullo's current research emphasizes the development of an online lethal means restriction decision aid for parents of youth at risk for self-harm. He is passionate about improving care for historically underserved communities, with a particular interest in suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth.

Boston University

Dr. H. Chris Hahm's expertise spans epidemiology, theory development, and intervention design/dissemination, with a specific focus on understanding depression, self-harm, and suicidal behaviors among Asian American population. She is renowned for her pioneering work on developing and testing culturally grounded interventions such as Asian American Women’s Action in Resilience and Empowerment (AWARE) and "Youth AWARE," successfully implemented in colleges and high schools in the U.S.  Furthermore, she spearheaded the creation of the AWARE Online Certificate Program, providing scalable training for clinicians treating Asian Americans.

University of Oregon

Dr. Huang's research focuses on understanding the cultural factors associated with child development and the prevention of psychopathology for racial/ethnic minority and immigrant youth. Specifically, this work examines how cultural factors in parenting may exacerbate or mitigate risk for mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, and suicidality. She translates this research into culturally informed, evidence-based interventions for these youth and their families. Dr. Huang is particularly interested in the prevention of suicide among Asian American youth through parenting. Currently, she is principal investigator of a project that is adapting and implementing the Family Check-Up (FCU) for suicide prevention with Asian American adolescents in New York City. 

University of Florida

Dr. Liu uses an interdisciplinary approach to study the mental health needs of justice-involved youth, with a focus on the nexus of traumatic childhood experiences, deviance and crime, and mental health issues. She has particular interests in how suicide risk unfolds in the life context of justice-involved youth and the contributors of suicide thoughts and behaviors (STBs) in secure facilities with varied restrictiveness. Dr. Liu is the principal investigator of an NIMH grant that focuses on culturally sensitive suicide prevention for incarcerated black youth. She collaborates with researchers from psychology, criminology, and statistics on studies of the longitudinal inter- and intra-personal change of STBs, health disparities, and culturally sensitive mental health services.

RTI International

My program of research focuses on risk for suicide among children and adolescents within a developmental psychopathology perspective.  Thus, consistent with this perspective, my research considers the unique social-contextual factors that may contribute to disparities in STBs among minoritized youth. I am currently an MPI on NIMH funded R01s focusing on youth suicide risk across children to adolescence, including a grant focused on a predominantly nonwhite sample of children ages 5-7, in which we investigate early emergence of risk for STBs.  I also am involved in other projects evaluating suicide prevention programs in schools within rural areas of North Carolina. As a licensed clinical psychologist, I have clinical training and experience providing treatment for teens experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors. 

Vanderbilt University

Dr. Clark is trained as a social and psychiatric epidemiologist, and her program of research focuses on studying biopsychosocial factors that potentiate or mitigate suicide risk among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth. She utilizes novel qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate risk and protective factors of LGBTQ+ youth suicide risk at multiple levels (e.g., structural, community, interpersonal, individual). Her research to date has yielded more than 70 peer-reviewed papers and several book chapters focused on LGBTQ+ mental health disparities, with a focus on suicide risk. She is PI of an NIMH-funded K01 award that applies intensive longitudinal methods to investigate the role of stigma on fluctuations in suicide risk among LGBTQ+ adolescents. She is also PI of an NIMH-funded R01 award that will assemble a prospective cohort of LGBTQ+ preteens to study trajectories of suicidal ideation and its stigma-related precursors over a key developmental period.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Brooks Stephens’ research and clinical work focus on improving the mental health trajectories of youth and emerging adults, with a special emphasis on Black youth and their families. Grounded in strengths-based approaches, she has a particular interest in utilizing mixed-methods approaches to examine the unique sociocultural risk and protective factors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among Black communities. Drawing on intersectionality theory, Dr. Brooks Stephens is also interested in understanding the intersection of gender and race on suicidal thoughts and behaviors for Black girls and boys. Her ultimate goal is to identify modifiable targets to guide the development and implementation of novel interventions, policies, and programming to reduce racism-related stress and suicide among Black youth, emerging adults, and families.

Jefferson Health

My research focuses on understanding the challenges faced by racially diverse adolescents and families in accessing mental health care, implementing evidence-based suicide treatments in primary care settings, and adapting interventions for this population. I aim to identify evidence-based practices that address the specific barriers hindering the utilization of mental health services among racially diverse individuals. My research aligns with the YSRC mission by emphasizing evidence-based prevention strategies that highlight diversity, community support, and address disparities in the mental health care system. I plan to build upon the exploratory analysis from my pre-doctoral internship and collaborate with a primary care partnership during my post-doctoral fellowship to study the implementation of The Family Intervention for Suicide Prevention (FISP)/SAFETY-A with racially diverse patients in a pediatric primary care setting. By combining qualitative and quantitative research methods, I aim to provide support for high acuity adolescents and their families, ultimately contributing to YSRC's mission of reducing youth suicide.

The Ohio State University

Dr. Boyd’s research primarily explores the impact of strengths-based approaches and assets on mental health, suicide, and HIV-related outcomes among Black youth, with a particular focus on young Black men who have sex with men. More specifically, Dr. Boyd examines the role families—including parents, chosen families, and siblings—play in reducing suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and in enhancing HIV prevention behaviors. Furthermore, he investigates other external and internal assets that may contribute to improved health outcomes in youth.