Rebecca Bernert

Biography

Dr. Bernert is Director of the Suicide Prevention Research Laboratory within the Stanford Mood Disorders Center. She is a suicidologist, with subspecialty expertise in suicide prevention clinical trials and evidence-based standardized suicide risk assessment and best practice management. She has subspecialty training in behavioral sleep medicine, with a background in sleep and circadian physiology. Her program utilizes cognitive, biologic (e.g., fMRI), and behavioral testing paradigms, with an emphasis on translational therapeutics. Dr. Bernert has collaborated with NIH, DOD, DARPA, SAMHSA, and the White House on suicide prevention initiatives; and recently contributed to the 2014 VACO Mental Health Innovations for Suicide Prevention Workgroup and the 2013 VA/DOD Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for the Assessment and Management of Patients at Risk for Suicide.

Research Interest

Her research focuses on the development of novel therapeutic targets for suicide prevention across the lifespan, particularly those aiming to reduce stigma and enhance access to care. A specific focus of this work emphasizes the use of low-risk intervention approaches for the prevention of suicide. Dr. Bernert has several suicide prevention trials currently underway, funded by NIH and DOD, testing the preliminary efficacy of a non pharmacological insomnia treatment on suicidal behaviors. Within this framework, we are interested in the investigation of transdiagnostic risk factors and candidate biomarkers that may inform the pathogenesis of risk and treatment innovation. Advisory and advocacy work, focused on the way in which such research guides public health policy, dissemination, and national strategies for suicide prevention, has been an extension of this work. Most recently, this includes local initiatives to establish guidelines for lethal means restriction advocacy and implementation on a broad scale.