Broadly, my research aims to identify potential risk and protective factors for anxiety and suicidal behavior, in attempt to better understand and predict adverse outcomes among youth. Using a developmental psychopathology framework, my research assesses various units of analysis across the lifespan, such as behavioral (i.e., suicidal behavior), sociocultural (i.e., racial and ethnic differences) and biological (i.e., medications used) markers that interact both cross-sectionally and temporally to predict developmental trajectories.
I currently have three lines of research:
- Identifying suicide risk in large datasets
- Suicide prevention in schools
- Prescription benzodiazepine use
Identifying suicide risk in large datasets
- 2025 SOPHE/CDC Student Fellowship in Injury Prevention
Project Title: Developmental risk factors in EDSTARS (PIs: Natasha Chaku, Cheryl King)
Combining my clinical and developmental expertise with longitudinal datasets, this project aims to parse out distal, proximal, and developmental risk factors for suicide-related outcomes in youth presenting to an emergency department using a developmental framework in the Emergency Department Screen for Teens at Risk for Suicide (ED-STARS) dataset.
Project Title: NCHA Greek-Life Suicide Project (PIs: Patrick Quinn, Natasha Chaku)
Led multi-level data-analysis in SAS using the ACHA- NCHA III, a large population-level dataset, to examine the association of Greek life involvement to suicidality in college students, particularly among those in minoritized racial and ethnic groups.
Suicide Prevention in Schools
Project Title: Connect to Care in Schools (PIs: Anna Mueller, Natasha Chaku)
The Connect to Care study aims to improve emotional connectedness between school staff and students as a core strategy for reducing youth suicide. My role on this project is to be the clinician on-call for youth who report elevated suicide risk scores.
Project Title: Help-Seeking for Suicide in Children (PIs: Anna Mueller, Natasha Chaku)
Using data from the Social Worlds & Youth Well-Being Study, this study aimed to assess from whom parents seek help for their child’s serious mental health struggles and what logistical issues or attitudinal beliefs hindered or facilitated help-seeking.
Prescription Benzodiazepine Use
- 2022-2024 National Institute of Mental Health T32 Research Training Grant: “Training in Clinical Translational Science: Maximizing the Public Health Impact” (5 T32 MH103213)
Project Title: The association between benzodiazepines and suicidal behavior: a systematic review (PIs: Brian D’Onofrio, Patrick Quinn)
Conducted an epidemiological systematic review examining the effect of benzodiazepines on subsequent suicidal behavior. This work is pre-registered on PROSPERO and is currently a manuscript in preparation.
Project Title: Incident and long-term benzodiazepine use: a national study of commercial health care claims (PIs: Brian D’Onofrio, Patrick Quinn)
Conducted a case-control and cohort study examining employer-sponsored health care claims among 1,904,608 individuals to evaluate benzodiazepine treatment patterns based on psychiatric diagnoses and race/ethnicity as predictors of both incident and long-term benzodiazepine use. This population-based translational research was presented at a conference and resulted in a manuscript currently under revision.
Project Title: A pharmacoepidemiological study of the risk of suicidal behavior associated with initiating prescription benzodiazepine treatment (PIs: Brian D’Onofrio, Patrick Quinn)
Organized and analyzed large, population-level United States insurance claims to evaluate the trajectory of suicidal events in benzodiazepine users (i.e., compare the rate of suicidal behavior preceding treatment and during medicated periods to a baseline period 3-12 months prior to initiation) within individuals, which accounts for all stable confounding