Alexis May

Alexis May, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Wesleyan University. She holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia, completed her clinical internship at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School, and conducted postdoctoral work at the National Center for Veterans Studies. Her research focuses on understanding the etiology and prevention of suicidal behaviors, particularly differentiating attempters from ideators, motivations for suicide, and improving suicide screening in healthcare settings. She is affiliated with the National Center for Veterans Studies and the Couple Laboratory for Observational StudiEs (CLOSE).

Dr. May’s education includes a BA in Psychology and Neuroscience from Wesleyan University (2005), an MA in Clinical Psychology from the University of British Columbia (2010), and a PhD in Clinical Psychology (2016). Her clinical expertise includes dialectical behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and motivational interviewing.

Her research emphasizes suicide prevention innovations, such as integrating partners into suicide risk assessment and developing objective measures of suicide capability. Notable projects include improving primary care screening protocols and evaluating the role of entrapment and fearlessness in suicidal behavior among veterans and military populations.

Her work has been published in high-impact journals like Annual Review of Clinical Psychology and Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. She collaborates on initiatives like the PRISM study to refine suicide risk identification methods.