Rate My Professor Annette Erlangsen

Annette Erlangsen is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Centre for Mental Health Research in the Australian National University’s Research School of Population Health, College of Health and Medicine. She holds a PhD from the University of Southern Denmark and possesses a background in epidemiology, demography, and sociology. With over 25 years of experience in suicide research, she currently serves as Associate Professor and Head of Program at the Danish Research Institute for Suicide Prevention, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen. Additionally, she is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Erlangsen has held prominent leadership roles, including Secretary-General of the International Association for Suicide Prevention from 2020 to 2024, national representative for Denmark, and co-chair of the Special Interest Group on Suicide in Older Adults for the same organization. Previously, she was Secretary-Treasurer of the International Academy of Suicide Research. She is a member of the Danish National Partnership for Suicide Prevention and serves on the editorial boards of Lancet Psychiatry, Crisis, and Suicidology Online.

Erlangsen’s research focuses on suicide prevention among high-risk populations, including older adults, individuals bereaved by suicide, suicide attempt survivors, and socially stigmatized groups such as sexual minorities, asylum-seekers, prisoners, and homeless people. Her work also examines suicide in those with chronic disorders and evaluates psychosocial and eHealth interventions like apps and avatars using register-based epidemiological methods. She has authored or co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed papers in prestigious journals including Science, JAMA, BMJ, and The Lancet, accumulating more than 14,000 citations, an h-index of 53, and an i10-index of 112. Key publications include “Effects of suicide bereavement on mental health and suicide risk” (Lancet Psychiatry, 2014), “Short and long term effects of psychosocial therapy provided to persons after deliberate self-harm” (Lancet Psychiatry, 2015), “Parents Bereaved by Offspring Suicide: A Population-Based Longitudinal Case-Control Study” (JAMA Psychiatry, 2013), “Psychiatric disorders and mortality among people in homeless shelters in Denmark” (Lancet, 2011), and “Schizophrenia - a predictor of suicide during the second half of life?” (Schizophrenia Research, 2012). Her contributions have been recognized with awards such as the Alexander Gralnick Award from the American Association of Suicidology (2014), the Danish Nordentoft Award (2014), the Young Lecturer Award at the European Symposium for Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour (2003), the Mens Health Award by the Danish National Board of Health (2006), and multiple Blue Ribbon Awards from the Population Association of America (2002, 2003, 2005).