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Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Veteran Suicide Prevention - Leadership and Senior Staff

Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Veteran Suicide Prevention
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Our Mission & Vision


The mission of the Rocky Mountain MIRECC is to study suicide with the goal of reducing suicidal ideation and behaviors in the Veteran population. Towards this end, the work of the Rocky Mountain MIRECC is focused on promising clinical interventions, as well as the cognitive and neurobiological underpinnings of suicidal thoughts and behaviors that may lead to innovative prevention strategies.

The vision of the Rocky Mountain MIRECC is to increase information and treatment options available to Veterans, their families and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) so that care decisions and care provided are aimed at decreasing suicide risk.


Contact Us


If you have questions or comments, please reach out to us via email: RockyMountainMIRECC@va.gov.


Staff



Leadership - Denver

Lisa Brenner

Lisa A. Brenner, PhD (she/her)
Clinical Research Psychologist
Department of Veterans Affairs, Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC
Aurora, CO

Phone: 720-723-6488
Email: Lisa.Brenner@va.gov

Publications: PUBMED | Google Scholar

Lisa A. Brenner, PhD, is a Board-Certified Rehabilitation Psychologist, a Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), Psychiatry, and Neurology at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. She is also Vice Chair of Research for the Department of PM&R. She has over 20 years of experience working with Veterans and has championed numerous national efforts to prevent suicide among Veterans. Her primary area of research interest is traumatic brain injury, co-morbid psychiatric disorders, and negative psychiatric outcomes including suicide.


Research Core Leadership


Nazanin H. Bahraini PhD

Nazanin Bahraini, PhD (she/her)
Clinical Research Psychologist and Acting Director, Rocky Mountain MIRECC
Department of Veterans Affairs, Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC
Aurora, CO

Email: Nazanin.Bahraini@va.gov

Publications: PUBMED | Google Scholar

Nazanin Bahraini, PhD, is a Clinical Research Psychologist. She is the Acting Director at the Rocky Mountain MIRECC. She is also an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Her areas of research interest include dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices in suicide prevention and novel, transdiagnostic treatment approaches for mental health conditions.


Education Core Leadership


Samantha M. Hack, PhD

Samantha M. Hack, PhD, LMSW (she/hers)
Director of Education
Rocky Mountain MIRECC
US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC
Aurora, CO

Email: Samantha.Hack@va.gov

Publications: PUBMED | Google Scholar


Samantha M. Hack, PhD, is a licensed social work, Research Health Scientist, and the Director of Education at the Rocky Mountain MIRECC. Her areas of research interest include VA Whole Health and integrative health, patient empowerment and activation, and participatory action research methodologies.


Ryan Holliday

Ryan Holliday, PhD (he/him)
Director of Training, Clinical Research Psychologist
Rocky Mountain MIRECC
US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC
Aurora, CO

Email: Ryan.Holliday@va.gov

Publications: PUBMED | Google Scholar


Ryan Holliday, PhD, is a Clinical Research Psychologist and the Director of Training at the Rocky Mountain MIRECC. He is also an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. His clinical and research interest focus upon understanding the intersection of trauma, psychosocial stressors (such as homelessness and justice involvement), and mental health. He is interested in translating these findings into evidence-based practice.


Clinical Core Leadership


Bridget B. Matarazzo PsyD

Bridget B. Matarazzo, PsyD (she/her)
Director of Clinical Services, Rocky Mountain MIRECC
US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC
Aurora, CO

Email: Bridget.Matarazzo@va.gov

Publications: PUBMED | Google Scholar


Bridget B. Matarazzo, PsyD, is the Director of Clinical Services at VA's Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention. She is Co-Director of VA's Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program and leads a team that provides implementation support for multiple national VA suicide prevention programs, such as the VA Suicide Risk Identification Strategy. She is also an Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado, School of Medicine.


Hal S Wortzel, MD

Hal S. Wortzel, MD
Director VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness - Psychiatry
Director of Neuropsychiatry Consultation Services
Co-Director of the Suicide Risk Management (SRM) Consultation Program
Rocky Mountain MIRECC
US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC
Aurora, CO

Phone: 720-723-6481
Email: Hal.Wortzel@va.gov

Publications: PUBMED

Dr. Wortzel is a forensic neuropsychiatrist at the Rocky Mountain MIRECC, where he serves as Director of Neuropsychiatric Consultation Services and Co-director for the Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program. He is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at of the University of Colorado, and serves as the Michael K. Cooper Professor of Neurocognitive Disease, and as Faculty for the Program in Forensic Psychiatry. Areas of research/scholarship interest include suicide risk management, aggression and suicide in the context of PTSD and TBI, brain injury litigation, and the application of emerging neuroscientific tools to the legal arena.


Data & Statistical Core Leadership


Jeri E. Forster PhD

Jeri E. Forster, PhD (she/her)
Director of Data and Statistical Core, Rocky Mountain MIRECC
US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC
Aurora, CO

Phone: 720-938-2708
Email: Jeri.Forster@ucdenver.edu

Publications: PUBMED


Leadership - Salt Lake City

Deborah Yurgelun-Todd PhD

Deborah Yurgelun-Todd, PhD
Associate Director, Rocky Mountain MIRECC
US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Salt Lake City VAMC
Salt Lake City, UT

Phone: 801-582-1565 x2821
Email: Deborah.YurgelunTodd@va.gov

Publications: PUBMED | Google Scholar

Dr. Yurgelun-Todd is an Associate Director for the Rocky Mountain MIRECC and a USTAR Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Utah School of Medicine as well as the Director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Brain Institute at the University of Utah. Her research focus is on identifying the neuropsychological and neurobiological bases of major psychiatric disorders including substance abuse and mood disorders.


Perry F. Renshaw MD PhD MBA

Perry F. Renshaw, MD, PhD, MBA
Medical Director, Rocky Mountain MIRECC
US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Salt Lake City VAMC
Salt Lake City, UT

Phone: 801-582-1565 x2776
Email: Perry.Renshaw@va.gov

Publications: PUBMED | Google Scholar

Dr. Perry Renshaw is a USTAR Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Utah School of Medicine as well as the Director of the Magnetic Resonance Laboratory at the Brain Institute at the University of Utah. Prior to Dr. Renshaw's recruitment to the University of Utah and the Rocky Mountain MIRECC in 2008, he spent fifteen years on the psychiatry faculty at Harvard Medical School, where he served as director of the Brain Imaging Center at McLean Hospital.His work with the Rocky Mountain MIRECC has focused on the role of altitude as a novel risk factor for suicide.


Erin C. McGlade

Erin C. McGlade, PhD (she/her)
Clinical Research Psychologist & Co-Director of the VASLC Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment, Rocky Mountain MIRECC
US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Salt Lake City VAMC
Salt Lake City, UT

Email: Erin.McGlade@va.gov

Publications: PUBMED | Google Scholar

Dr. McGlade is Co-Director of the Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment at the Salt Lake City MIRECC and an Associate Professor in the University of Utah School of Medicine and Huntsman Mental Health Institute (HMHI). Her research interests include the neurobiological bases and clinical correlates of suicide behavior in female veterans.


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Last Updated 31 January 2024