PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Penn Medicine plans to open a suicide prevention research center with a $14 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers at Penn say they hope the center will "transform suicide prevention." They are calling it INSPIRE — for "innovation in suicide prevention implementation research."
A particular focus will be on reducing disparities, and better understanding suicide in underserved groups, such as Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ communities. Researchers say those are among the communities disproportionately affected by suicide.
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They say they will develop and test prevention strategies in a variety of settings, including locations with limited resources. For example, they plan to use telehealth for intervention and follow-up services by emergency rooms.
Penn has tragically extensive experience with suicide: 14 students took their own lives between 2013 and 2018. In 2019, the director of the university’s counseling and psychological services died after jumping from the 17th floor of a building.
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