MIRECC / CoE

Rocky Mountain MIRECC for VA Suicide Prevention - Douglas Gray, MD

Updated: 9 September 2016

Biography and Contact

Douglas Gray, MD

Title: Research Physician

Contact Information: 801.582.1565 ext. 2777
douglas.gray@va.gov

 

Doug Gray is a Professor of Psychiatry and the Director of Training and Education (medical students and residents) for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Utah. Dr. Gray has been a suicidologist for over twenty years, and in recent years has turned his attention towards prevention of veteran suicide. To accomplish this he joined the Rocky Mountain MIRECC suicide research/prevention team in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. Gray is involved with community outreach in Utah, including membership in the Committee that coordinates Utah suicide prevention statewide.

 

Doug Gray completed his undergraduate degree in Bioengineering at the University of Colorado, and worked for a few years as a bioengineer before achieving his life-long dream of attending medical school, matriculating at the University of Colorado. This was followed by a pediatric internship, a general psychiatry residency at the University of Colorado and a child psychiatry fellowship at the University of Utah. Clinically Dr. Gray has worked at the Primary Children’s Hospital and the University Neuropsychiatric Institute in Salt Lake City, with a focus on training residents and medical students. He has integrated suicide assessment into the curriculum for all Utah medical students.

 

Dr. Gray got involved with suicide research because of an increase in youth suicide in Utah in the early 1990’s. With the goal of designing better suicide prevention programs Dr. Gray’s team interviews families after a suicide, to learn everything they can about suicide risk factors. Due to his concern about our veterans, he has applied successful research methods for studying suicide to veteran suicide.

 

What made you choose the MIRECC: My cousin a couple of years older than me was a soldier in Vietnam; he was wounded, but survived. I also got to serve veterans at the VA hospital when I was a medical student. I have always had a place in my heart for veterans.

 

What do you like most about working at the VA: Watching our residents train at the VA, and later choosing a career at the VA because of their experience with the veterans.

 

Favorite Utah Activity: Fly-fishing, the Sundance Film Festival, skiing, and Sunday family brunch at Alta.

 

Inspiring quote: “All happy families resemble one another” Leo Tolstoy

 

Lastly, see this video of Dr. Gray in Seoul, South Korea and the international work he is involved with related to suicide prevention.

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Recent Publications

McGlade E, Bakian A, Coon H, Yurgelun-Todd D, Callor WB, Byrd J, Gray D. Male suspected suicide decedents in Utah: A comparison of Veterans and nonveterans. Compr Psychiatry. 2016 Aug;69:1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2016.04.014. Epub 2016 Apr 28.

There has been significant debate regarding suicide risk in Veterans compared to nonveterans. However, few studies have examined similarities and differences between Veteran and nonveteran suicide decedents using a combination of next of kin psychological autopsy and data from a state Office of the Medical Examiner (OME). For the current study, next of kin of a one-year cohort of male suspected suicide decedents in Utah completed psychological autopsy interviews with trained research staff. Next of kin of 70 Veterans and 356 nonveterans completed the interviews, which included demographic, behavioral, psychosocial, and clinical variables. The psychological autopsy data then were combined with OME data for the presented analyses. Results showed that Veteran and nonveteran suicide decedents differed on multiple factors, including age at death. Specifically, male nonveteran suicide decedents were younger at age of death compared to Utah Veterans and to a national sample. Veteran decedents also were more likely to have a history of suicide attempts and more likely to have access to firearms compared to nonveterans. Other between-group differences, including Veterans being more likely to have lived alone and method of death (e.g., gunshot, hanging, etc.), were no longer statistically significant after adjustment for age at death. CONCLUSIONS: these findings have significant clinical and practical importance, as they highlight the risk for suicide in younger nonveterans and older Veterans in Utah.

Keywords: Suicide Prevention

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Haws, C., Gray, D.D., Yurgelun-Todd, D.A., Moskos, M., Meyer, L.J., & Renshaw, P.F. (2009). The possible effect of altitude on regional variation in suicide rates. Med. Hypotheses, 73(4): 587-590.

In the United States, suicide rates consistently vary among geographic regions; the western states have significantly higher suicide rates than the eastern states. The reason for this variation is unknown but may be due to regional elevation differences. States' suicide rates (1990-1994), when adjusted for potentially confounding demographic variables, are positively correlated with their peak and capital elevations. These findings indicate that decreased oxygen saturation at high altitude may exacerbate the bioenergetic dysfunction associated with affective illnesses. Should such a link exist, therapies traditionally used to treat the metabolic disturbances associated with altitude sickness may have a role in treating those at risk for suicide.

Keywords: Suicide Prevention

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Media

How to Talk to a Child about a Suicide Attempt in Your Family

Cómo hablar con su hijo sobre un intento de suicidio en su familia

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