Sean Joe


Benjamin Youngdahl Professor of Social Development

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Sean Joe is a nationally recognized authority on suicidal behavior among African Americans. His research focuses on black adolescents’ mental health service use patterns, the role of religion in black suicidal behavior, salivary biomarkers for suicidal behavior, and development of father-focused, family-based interventions to prevent urban African American adolescent males from engaging in multiple forms of self-destructive behaviors.

Working within the Center for Social Development, Joe has launched the Race and Opportunity Lab, which examines race, opportunity, and social mobility in the St. Louis region, working to reduce inequality in adolescents’ transition into adulthood.

Joe served on the board of the Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN USA), the scientific advisory board of the National Organization of People of Color Against Suicide, and the editorial board of Advancing Suicide Prevention. He is the founder and director of the Emerging Scholars Interdisciplinary Network, a national interdisciplinary and multi-ethnic professional development network for early career social and behavior scientist.

In recognition of the impact of his work, Joe has received the Edwin Shneidman Award from the American Association of Suicidology for outstanding contributions in research, as well as the Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research.

In the media

U.S. Needs a Behavioral Health ‘CARES’ Act Now — Here’s What It Must Include

Now is the time for decisive leadership and policy action, informed by the available or new behavioral health science. America might be approaching a tidal wave of despair and our behavioral health systems cannot adequately prepare without prudent federal legislative action, writes Sean Joe.

Stories

HomeGrownSTL wins Social Justice Innovation Award

HomeGrownSTL wins Social Justice Innovation Award

HomeGrown STL, a Brown School program aimed at improving community-level capacity to reduce inequality in Black adolescents’ healthy transition to adulthood, has won an inaugural Social Justice Innovation Award from financial firm Morgan Stanley and the nonprofit Centri Tech Foundation.
U.S. Needs a Behavioral Health ‘CARES’ Act Now — Here’s What It Must Include

U.S. Needs a Behavioral Health ‘CARES’ Act Now — Here’s What It Must Include

America might be approaching a tidal wave of despair and our behavioral health systems cannot adequately prepare without prudent federal legislative action. After all the many congressional legislative phases of economic stimulus relief, behavioral care relief is also needed. Our future depends on the decisions we make today.
Disparities in educational experiences of black youth

Disparities in educational experiences of black youth

A more comprehensive picture of mental health that includes subjective well-being and other positive mental health characteristics could lead to more successful educational experiences among black youth, finds a recent study from Sean Joe, professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Community forum to focus on gun suicide

Community forum to focus on gun suicide

In the United States, there are more than 32,000 deaths per year from gun violence. More than 60 percent of those are from suicides. These issues and more will be discussed during “Guns, Suicide and Safety: A Community Forum,” at 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, in Hillman Hall’s Clark-Fox Forum.

Washington People: Sean Joe

A Q&A with Sean Joe, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School, who came to Washington University in St. Louis this fall from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on black adolescents’ mental health; the role of religion in black suicidal behavior; and the development of father-focused, family-based interventions to prevent black adolescent males from engaging in multiple forms of self-destructive behaviors.