Recipients include pioneer of the Safety
Plan Intervention, Dr. Barbara
Stanley, and leading youth suicide prevention expert Dr.
Jeff Bridge
NEW
YORK, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), the
largest private funder of suicide prevention research globally,
will honor its 2024 Research Award recipients at its annual
Research Dinner on May 22 at the
Conrad Hotel in New York City. The
honorees include trailblazing suicide prevention researcher
Barbara H. Stanley, PhD who
will be recognized posthumously with the Lifetime Achievement
Award, as well as Jeff Bridge,
PhD, whose research is focused on youth suicide and improving
outcomes and care for young people at-risk for suicide.
"Research is the foundation of all our efforts to prevent
suicide including our public education, advocacy, and support for
those affected by suicide" said AFSP Senior Vice President of
Research Dr. Jill
Harkavy-Friedman. "It's through the tireless work of
researchers like Dr. Stanley and Dr. Bridge that we learn more
about what leads to suicide and how we can save lives. We are
honored to spotlight their many contributions to the field of
suicide prevention and the efforts of the entire research community
who dedicate their time to tackling this urgent public health
challenge. Recognizing all that we have achieved through research
reminds us that there is hope and that suicide can be
prevented."
The event is closed to the public, but media interested in
reporting on suicide prevention research and award recipients are
invited to contact AFSP's PR Team for more information. This year's
research awardees include:
AFSP Lifetime Achievement Research Award
Barbara Stanley, PhD (1949-2023,
Awarded Posthumously)
Dr. Barbara Stanley was a
trailblazing clinical psychologist who dedicated her life to
advance learning and interventions to improve mental health. She
specialized in the treatment of individuals with borderline
personality disorder, depression, and self-harm. With her colleague
Dr. Gregory Brown, Dr. Stanley
developed the widely used Safety Planning Intervention. It is
implemented in emergency departments, inpatient and outpatient
facilities, Veterans Affairs, and crisis hotlines and has no doubt
played a role in saving countless lives. She has also mentored
several young investigators on fMRI studies examining the
interpersonal dysfunction dimension of borderline personality
disorder, genetics studies of borderline personality disorder, and
treatment engagement trials with suicidal individuals.
Dr. Stanley was a force in her field authoring and editing more
than 200 articles and book chapters, was editor-in-chief of the
Archives of Suicide Research and served on several editorial
boards. She was a past chair and member of the American
Psychological Association Committee on Human Research, and also
served as a standing member of the Adult Psychopathology and
Disorders of Aging NIH CSR study section. Besides serving on the
faculty in Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians
and Surgeons, she held numerous appointments across private and
government sectors. At AFSP, she served on both the Research Grant
Committee and Scientific Council and was the recipient of several
AFSP research grants throughout her career.
Annual AFSP Research Award
Jeff Bridge, PhD
Dr. Jeff Bridge is director of
the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research in the Abigail
Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. He is
receiving this year's Annual Research Award for his outstanding
recent work related to youth at risk for suicide. His research
focuses on the risk factors contributing to suicide and suicidal
behavior in young people and improving the quality of care they
receive. He has received multiple AFSP grants for his work
including a 2006 Young Investigator Award and 2011 AFSP Early
Career Researcher Award in 2011. He was also a senior investigator
for a 2014 AFSP Linked Standard Research Grant.
Dr. Bridge is also the Nationwide Foundation endowed chair of
innovation in behavioral health research, and professor of
pediatrics, psychiatry, and behavioral health at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. At AFSP,
Dr. Bridge serves as a scientific advisor, member of the Research
Grants Committee, and Scientific Council member.
Annual AFSP Paula J. Clayton Early Career Research
Grant Award
Alison Athey, PhD
Dr. Athey is an associate behavioral/social scientist at RAND
and a licensed clinical psychologist in Maryland. A recipient of a 2023 AFSP Early
Career Research Grant, her study aims to identify what
interventions will help loss survivors stabilize their own mental
health after their loss and where these interventions are best
delivered.
This award honors Athey's work that reflects the career focus of
the late Dr. Paula J. Clayton, a
leader in the field and AFSP's Chief Medical Officer from
2006-2013. By setting out to test the effectiveness of a
postvention intervention for suicide loss survivors, Dr. Athey's
study relates closely to one of Dr. Clayton's primary research
interests, bereavement by suicide.
Her work focuses on understanding risk for and preventing
life-threatening behaviors including suicide, overdose, and
gender-based violence. She has a special interest in evaluating
strategies to promote the implementation of evidence-based
assessment, prevention, and postvention strategies with high-risk
groups, following high-risk events, and in low-resource
settings.
AFSP Lifetime Achievement Award in Public Health &
Community Impact for Suicide Prevention
Catherine Barber, MPA
Catherine Barber, MPA, is a
senior researcher at the Harvard School of
Public Health's Injury Research Center where she led the
effort to design and test the pilot for the CDC's National Violent
Death Reporting System (NVDRS). This novel database is used across
sectors to provide the public and professionals with a clearer
understanding of violent deaths so they can be prevented.
This award honors Barber's leadership in public health and
community action, for her contributions to the field of suicide
prevention, which led to programs and broad community change at
AFSP and across the U.S, with respect to how we address firearm
suicide.
Barber's expertise is in designing and evaluating injury
surveillance systems and interpreting their data for prevention.
She is the founding director of Means Matter, a project to
disseminate research and interventions aimed at reducing a suicidal
person's access to highly lethal suicide methods. Barber was the
lead author with Elaine Frank on the
original CALM-Online (Counseling on Access to Lethal Means), a free
online course for health care and social services providers that
was produced with the Suicide Prevention Research Center (SPRC).
She was also one of the originators of the Gun Shop Project, a
novel approach to bringing firearm retailers, instructors, and
other firearm stakeholders into the suicide prevention field. She
was the recipient of the American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention's Allies in Action Lifetime Achievement Award in
2017.
Learn more about the role of research in preventing suicide.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated
to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide,
including those who have experienced a loss. AFSP creates a culture
that's smart about mental health through public education and
community programs, develops suicide prevention through research
and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide.
Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and
headquartered in New York, with a
public policy office in Washington,
DC, AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states, DC and
Puerto Rico, with programs and
events nationwide. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual
Report and join the conversation on suicide prevention by
following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,
LinkedIn and TikTok.
Media interested in comment on this news are encouraged to fill
out this press request form and review AFSP's Ethical
Reporting Tips.
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SOURCE American Foundation for Suicide Prevention