2019 AER Conference

Panel VI: Studying Suicide and Subjects at Risk for Suicide—Identifying and Minimizing Risk to Promote Necessary Research

Moderator(s)

• 

  David H. Strauss, MD
  

  Special Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University
  The Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Panelist(s)

• 

  Celia B. Fisher, PhD
  

  Marie Ward Doty Endowed Chair in Ethics; Professor of Psychology; Director, Center for Ethics Education; Director, HIV and Drug Abuse Prevention Research Ethics Training Institute, Fordham University
  
• 

  Samantha Marquez McKetchnie, LCSW
  

  Clinical Research Project Manager, Massachusetts General Hospital
  

Suicide is a major public health concern and is among the leading causes of death in the US. While the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, and suicide researchers all agree the lack of suicide and related research limits developing novel suicide prevention and treatment approaches, research with patients at risk for suicide presents a range of safety and ethical questions. This panel will discuss what IRB members need to know about suicide starting with a brief overview of the epidemiology of suicide and suicide risks. Panelists will then discuss the types of research that raise concerns about increased risks for suicide (i.e., safety plans aren’t just for “suicide studies”), which begs the question of how to best identify risks and how researchers should respond to risks. Finally, speakers will review how to assess proposed safety plans and how to help investigators create these plans.