David Brent is the Academic Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he holds the UPMC Endowed Chair in Suicide Studies. Dr. Brent has focused on understanding the epidemiology, risk and protective factors for adolescent depression and suicide and on translating those findings into evidence-based interventions. His work has helped to shape the guidelines for the assessment and management of adolescent suicidal behavior and depression, including approaches to treatment-resistant depression. Dr. Brent co-founded and directs the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania-funded Services for Teens at Risk, a program that has treated over 7000 suicidal adolescents since
1986. He led studies on the impact of parental loss on child and adolescent outcome and along with colleague Nadine Melhem, helped to define prolonged grief in bereaved children and adolescents. Currently, he is involved in the developing machine learning algorithms to identify youth at risk from health records and developing digital tools to promote safety planning and adherence to treatment. Dr. Brent is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and has been recognized for his work by the APA, AACAP, and the Brain and Behavior Foundation.