The Suicide and Substance Use (SUS)
The Suicide and Substance Use (SUS) Lab is led by Lourah Kelly, PhD, and focuses on designing, testing, and implementing evidence-informed psychosocial and digital health interventions for addiction, recovery, and suicide risk. We primarily focus on adolescents and young adults, as these age groups have the highest rates of co-occurring substance use problems and suicide risk. We value a participatory action approach, in which our Young Adult Advisory Board and other young adults with lived and living experience with addiction and suicide risk can partner with the research team on our interventions and research protocols. The team is also comprised of scientists with direct and familial lived experience with addiction, recovery, and suicidal despair.
Meet the Team:
Lourah Kelly, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Lab Director
Samantha Hersh, MPA
Research Coordinator II
Nancy Hu
Research Coordinator III
T'Leah McQuade
Undergrad Intern
Anusha Purakayastha, MPH
Fourth Year Med Student
Major Accomplishments:
In September 2023, Dr. Kelly was awarded a $747,000 K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the NIAAA to conduct pilot testing of the emerging adult avatar platform (EA-Avatar). EA-Avatar was designed in collaboration with emerging adults, clinical experts, emergency department experts, and iSPARC’s Young Adult Advisory Board to support emerging adults with alcohol use problems and suicide risk after an emergency department visit. Dr. Kelly recently submitted her progress report for Year 2 of the R00 phase and anticipates being awarded Year 3 in September 2025.
In April 2024, Dr. Kelly was awarded an R13 conference planning grant from NIAAA. This application received a perfect score from reviewers. The award supports up to 20 early career investigators (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early faculty within 10 years of their degree) to attend the annual American Psychological Association (APA) conference in person. All awardees present at a special poster session and attend a networking event, in addition to their regularly scheduled presentation. This R13 grant has been supporting early career investigators for the past 15 years, and we are continuing to support the early career to independent investigator pipeline with researchers from underrepresented backgrounds. The $74,001 grant supported 15 travel awards to APA in 2024, and the carryover will support 15 additional travel awards in 2025, despite not yet receiving the Notice of Award for Year 2. In August 2025, Dr. Kelly and her Clinical Research Coordinator III, Nancy Hu, will award 15 travel awards to early-career alcohol investigators and host the event at APA August 8–10 in collaboration with Division 50, Division 28, and NIAAA.
Dr. Kelly continues to serve as Unit Lead of the Dissemination and Community Engagement Unit of the Center for Accelerating Practices to End Suicide through Technology Translation (CAPES; PI: Dr. Edwin Boudreaux). This role involves co-facilitating monthly meetings of the CAPES Lived Experience Advisory Board to ensure the CAPES research projects and any products (e.g., tipsheets) are aligned with the needs of persons with lived experience with suicidal ideation and/or behavior. She partners with Jonathan Lerew, the iSPARC Graphic Designer, to maintain and expand the CAPES website with some consultation from the Education Development Center/Zero Suicide Institute.
Dr. Kelly is one of three faculty members on the Consortium on Addiction Recovery Science Website and Conference Planning Committee, a NIDA-funded initiative to bring synergy across the R24 and R-series grants focused on recovery science. She is also Co-Investigator of the Collaborative Hub of Emerging Adult Recovery Research (CHEARR). In this role, she organized and executed the second annual National Conference on Addiction Recovery Science, attended by over 250 participants, including researchers, persons with lived experience, advisory board members, peer recovery support specialists, and community partners.
Dr. Kelly is a supervisor on an R37 Method to Extend Research in Time awarded to Dr. Sara Becker, which recently received stop work orders secondary to shifting federal priorities, highlighting the importance of continued advocacy for sustained investment in behavioral health intervention research. She now serves as a Consultant for 1-8 hours per week. In this capacity, Dr. Kelly moderates and responds to questions in a networking app for parents of adolescents in residential substance use treatment, trains and supervises parent coaches, and mentors students and trainees. This collaboration also resulted in 2 manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals, multiple poster presentations with trainees, and continued presentations and manuscripts in preparation. Dr. Kelly has also collaborated with Dr. Sara Becker for more than a decade, so he has a long-standing history of academic and grant-funded research success with this team.
Research:
EA-Avatar
Title: Development and Evaluation of an Avatar Guided Mobile Health for Emerging Adults
Dates: 9/1/2023-8/31/2026
Funder: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Grant Number:
Funding: $249,000
PI: Lourah Kelly, PhD
Description:
This K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award to support the Dr. Kelly’s transition from mentored postdoctoral fellow to independent research scientist. The research project goal is to design and test the usability, acceptability, and feasibility of an avatar-guided digital health intervention for emerging adults with binge drinking and suicidal thoughts who present to the emergency department, using a participatory action approach. This includes an open pilot trial followed by a randomized controlled feasibility trial which will provide the foundation for larger effectiveness and implementation studies.
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/T5N-nPVmCEW4cV7b4fiu_g/project-details/11145118
American Psychological Association Early Career Investigator Poster Session
Title: American Psychological Association Annual Meeting Early Career Investigator Poster Session
Dates: 4/1/2024-3/31/2027
Funder: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Grant Number:
Funding: $24,667
PI: Lourah Kelly, PhD
Description:
The purpose of this conference support grant application is to support early career investigators with travel awards and a special poster session at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association.
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/T5N-nPVmCEW4cV7b4fiu_g/project-details/10902914
Collaborative Hub on Emerging Adult Recovery Research (CHEARR)
Title: Collaborative Hub on Emerging Adult Recovery Research (CHEARR)
Dates: 9/2022 – 9/2027
Funder: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Grant Number: R24DA057632
Funding: $42,074
PI: Lourah Kelly, PhD
Description:
This project aims to develop the research infrastructure and tools necessary to conduct high quality research focused on recovery supports for emerging adults who take or have taken medications for opioid use disorder. Dr. Kelly supports the development and testing of a novel measure of recovery capital for emerging adults, provides mentorship through the trainee to investigator pipeline, supports the work of the community boards of emerging adults and peer recovery support specialists, and facilitates dissemination through conferences and deliverables.
Center for Accelerating Practices to End Suicide (CAPES)
Title: Center for Accelerating Practices to End Suicide (CAPES)
Dates: 05/2023 – 03/2028
Funder: National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA)
Grant Number: P50MH129701
Funding: $16,803,300
PIs: Edwin P. Boudreaux, PhD
Description:
The purpose of this center is to identify best evidence-based suicide care technologies and study them systematically to identify key strategies for maximizing their translation to clinical care so they can be put in the hands of clinicians, patients, and families. Dr. Kelly serves as the lead of the Dissemination and Community Engagement Unit, which includes 1) building and engaging the Lived Experience Advisory Board and Healthcare System Consortium to maximize their potential for synergy across Center projects, and 2) leading dissemination of all CAPES materials, including working with the Lived Experience Advisory Board to develop direct-to-community materials.
Central MA Suicide Prevention Coalition
Title: Central MA Suicide Prevention Coalition
Dates:
Funder:
Grant Number:
Funding: $
PIs: Lourah Kelly, PhD
Description:
As part of her role as the Lead of the Dissemination and Community Engagement Unit of CAPES, Dr. Kelly is a member of the Central MA Suicide Prevention Coalition. She also serves as the Co-Facilitator of the MA Suicide Prevention Innovation Committee, including work to understand strengths and needs in Massachusetts with regards to resources to support recovery, wellness, and connection among people with suicidal despair.
