Dr. Melhem’s background is in psychiatric epidemiology and statistical genetics. Her research focuses on studying the familial, genetic, environmental, and biological pathways implicated in suicidal behavior; and studying psychological and biological responses to stress across the spectrum of psychopathology. Dr. Melhem’s work identified parental history of suicidal behavior and impulsive aggression as predictors for new-onset suicide attempts in offspring. Her work has also characterized the psychiatric impact of parental death on children and families and the course of complicated grief following bereavement. Her recent work is the first to show blunted cortisol responses to stress in suicide attempters compared to other high-risk groups with psychopathology. Dr. Melhem has also studied the genetics of several brain and neuropsychiatric phenotypes. She is Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on several NIMH funded studies. In addition, she was the recipient of a Young Investigator Award from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a postdoctoral fellowship from the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation in child and adolescent depression, and twice the recipient of a Young Investigator Award from NARSAD.
