The purpose of this cooperative agreement are 

• To support Suicide Prevention research Center (SPRC) which represent CDC’s largest national extramural investment in suicide prevention research and training, intervention development, and evaluation; 
• To integrate collectively, in the context of a national program, the disciplines of epidemiology, medicine, biostatistics, public health, and behavioral and social sciences in order to prevent injuries from suicidal behavior more effectively; 
• To identify and evaluate current and new interventions fro the prevention and control of suicide-related injuries; 
• To bring the knowledge and expertise of SPRC to bear on the development and improvement of effective public and private sector programs for suicide prevention and control; and 
• To facilitate suicide prevention efforts supported by various governmental and non-governmental agencies within a geographic region.

 
Las Vegas, Nevada - Suicide Prevention Research Center, Trauma Institute, University of Nevada School of Medicine

Partners
Collaboration will occur among: Critical Illness and Trauma Foundation, Inter-mountain Regional Emergency Medical Services Coordinating Council and American Association of Suicidology.

Target Group
Individuals at risk for suicide

Description
The Trauma Institute of the University of Nevada School (UNSOM) of Medicine will establish a Suicide Prevention research Center. The UNSOM will collaborate with the American Association of Suicidology, the Critical Illness and Trauma Foundation, and the Inter-Mountain Regional Emergency Medical Services Coordinating Council to establish a Suicide Prevention Research center.

The Center will be located at UNSOM and serve the inter-mountain west region which consist of Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. This region has the highest suicide rates in the country.

The Center will be organized around four core areas of activity: administration and program and policy development; methodology development and program evaluation; research; and education and dissemination.

The project objectives include piloting a comprehensive surveillance system for self-directed violence; cataloging and analyzing existing regional data on self-directed violence; identifying existing regional suicide prevention programs; conducting a study of medical examiners and coroners related to classifying the cause of death; and publishing on the topic of suicide.

The central feature of the Center is the development of an injury (suicide) surveillance system linking all available sources of information within this region. Information obtained from surveillance will be used to develop and implement data-driven interventions and controls.

Evaluation
Because this is not a research project with a defined study population, evaluation will be in the form of progress reports to the funding agency and successful completion of activities.

Contact
Dr. Thomas Shires
Director
Trauma Institute
University of Nevada School of Medicine
2040 West Charleston Blvd. Suite 304
Las Vegas, Nevada 89102
Telephone : 702-671-2297
Fax : 702-385-9399