Methods Core for Linking Health and Criminal-Legal Data to Improve Suicide Prevention
Official title: Methods Core
Funded at Michigan State University · NIH-11419817 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A nationwide data- and design-focused grant that supports projects using big data from health and criminal-legal systems to prevent suicides at points where behavioral health services can intercede.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Michigan State University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (East Lansing, United States) |
| Project start | August 22, 2022 |
| Project end | July 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $1,911,639 |
| NIH project number | 5P50MH127512-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11419817 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates include individuals at risk for suicide who interact with health care or criminal-legal systems and whose data can inform prevention strategies.
✕Less likely to help
Individuals with no connection to health or criminal-legal data used in the study may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
This grant funds a central Methods Core that coordinates a Signature Project, several Exploratory Projects, and multiple Pilot Feasibility Projects, all focused on linking health data with criminal-legal data to identify and prevent suicide risk. It aims to build a large, standardized dataset and develop scalable, sustainable methods for translating findings into real-world prevention strategies. Researchers will create reproducible data pipelines, measures, and workflows that enable automated risk identification and timely responses across systems. The work leverages existing networks like the Mental Health Research Network to extract suicide-related information from diverse data sources.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the project could improve early identification of individuals at risk of suicide and enable cross-system interventions that save lives.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research shows that health and system data linkages can inform suicide risk identification, but this project emphasizes scalable, cross-system translation and large-scale data integration.
Where this research is happening
-
Michigan State University
East Lansing, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Johnson, Jennifer E — Michigan State University
- Study coordinator: Johnson, Jennifer E
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.