Areas of Focus

Suicide Prevention Among Marginalized Youth, Families, and Communities

We study suicide risk and protective factors among Black and racially other marginalized youth, with attention to the caregivers, families, and intergenerational relationships that shape their wellbeing. We understand mental distress not as individual pathology but as a consequence of structural conditions that must be named, studied, and addressed. Our work moves beyond assessing risk to identify the structural, cultural, and relational conditions that sustain wellbeing in real-time. We build and test our own conceptual frameworks, grounded in community knowledge and the experiences of those we work alongside, to advance this science.

Real-Time and Adaptive Intervention Science

We use ecological momentary assessment, smartphone-based platforms, and adaptive intervention designs to understand and address suicide risk as it unfolds in daily life. By capturing how risk shifts moment to moment, we generate the kind of precise, contextually grounded evidence that traditional methods cannot. Our smartphone-based tools are built for cultural responsiveness and designed to meet people where they are — in their communities, on their devices, and in the real conditions of their lives. This work directly informs the development of just-in-time adaptive interventions that deliver the right support at the right moment.

AI, Digital Health, and Responsible Innovation

We evaluate and refine AI-powered tools for suicide prevention, with a focus on safety, equity, cultural grounding, and accountability. Alongside community members and young people, we build and test digital tools designed to support mental health and suicide prevention in ways that are responsive to the communities using them. We ask not only whether technology works, but for whom, under what conditions, and at what cost.

Gender, Identity, and Mental Health

Gender and identity development are central to how we understand mental health, suicide risk, and resilience. We examine how the formation of racial identity and gender norms shape wellbeing across adolescence and young adulthood, and how digital tools and interventions can be designed to reflect the full complexity of young people’s identities.

Community-Engaged, User-Centered, and Participatory Methods

We use community-engaged principles, user-centered design, and co-production approaches throughout our research studies to ensure that the communities most affected by suicide are driving the questions, the methods, and the solutions — including the design and evaluation of the digital tools we build and test together.