Two Yale School of Medicine scientists are part of a recently assembled group of leading experts participating in a joint effort of the nonprofit Jake Collective and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to help define the neurocognitive and psychosocial factors underlying the heightened risk of serious mental health challenges and suicide in neurodivergent young people.
Hilary Blumberg, MD, John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience and professor of psychiatry, Child Study Center, and radiology and biomedical imaging, and Christine Cha, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center, will join other leading researchers in psychiatry, neurobiology, brain imaging, pediatrics, and people with lived experience to study risk factors for suicide in neurodivergent young people and identify warning signs to help prevent tragedy.
Blumberg’s research uses advanced neuroimaging methods, combined with translational research approaches to elucidate the brain circuitry differences that underlie mood disorders across the lifespan, with a focus on bipolar disorder and on suicide prevention.
Cha's research focuses on youth suicide and uses advanced digital technology methods to assess, predict, and reduce the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors early in life. The two are working together on a unique Yale CBMH-funded study that combines these methods to study pairs of suicidal teens and their parents.