Joan R Asarnow

Joan R. Asarnow is a Professor-in-residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine. With extensive expertise in adolescent mental health, she focuses on suicide prevention, depression treatment, and self-harm interventions for youth. Her research program has been continuously funded by NIH grants for over two decades, with principal investigator roles on multiple R01 and R34 grants targeting youth suicide prevention and depression treatment.

Dr. Asarnow's research interests center on evidence-based interventions for suicidal adolescents, including family-focused treatments, dialectical behavior therapy adaptations, and implementation of mental health services in emergency departments and primary care settings. Her work emphasizes reducing health disparities and improving care for racial/ethnic minoritized youth. She has pioneered stepped-care models for suicide prevention and developed innovative approaches for lethal means safety counseling.

Her publication record demonstrates consistent leadership in youth suicide research, with numerous high-impact articles in journals including JAMA Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, and Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Recent work focuses on digital interventions, biomarkers for self-harm risk, and pandemic impacts on youth mental health services.

• Principal Investigator, NIH R01MH112147: Randomized Trial of Stepped Care for Suicide Prevention in Teens and Young Adults (2016-2021)
• Principal Investigator, NIH R34MH078082: Family Based Intervention for Adolescent Suicide Attempters (2007-2011)
• Principal Investigator, NIH R01MH078596: Reducing Health Risk Behavior & Improving Health Adolescent Depression (2006-2012)

Dr. Asarnow has mentored numerous early-career researchers who have become leaders in child and adolescent psychiatry. Her collaborative research network spans multiple institutions including UCLA, USC, and other UC campuses, with a strong emphasis on translational research that bridges clinical practice and scientific discovery. She has contributed significantly to developing evidence-based approaches for emergency department settings and school-based mental health services for at-risk youth.