Bio: Jane Pirkis, a 2001-02 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is a senior research fellow in the University of Melbourne's Centre for Health Program Evaluation. Her research and publications have addressed a broad range of topics related to adolescent and adult mental health and well-being, including access to health care for sub-groups such as people from non-English-speaking backgrounds and suicidal individuals. She has also researched methods for optimizing mental health care delivery and financing, particularly case-mix funding and improving public and private sector partnerships, and has contributed to reviews of mental health policy in Australia, including the National Mental Health Strategy and the National Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy. Pirkis' previous experience includes work as a project consultant for Shane Solomon and Associates, a consultant research officer at Springvale Community Health Centre, a policy analyst for the National Health Strategy, and a policy analyst/project officer for the New South Wales Department of Heath.
Placement: University of California
Mentors: Claire Brindis, Ph.D.; Charles Irwin, M.D.
Project: Utilization of Counseling Services by Suicidal Adolescents
Description: Pirkis examined the utilization of psychological or emotional counseling by suicidal adolescents, with the aim of improving the capacity of health services to screen for and prevent adolescent suicide. The study was a secondary analysis of data from the household interview component of Wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which examined health-related behaviors of American adolescents in grades 7 through 12 in 1995. Analysis was restricted to respondents identified as being suicidal based on their responses.