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James A. Naifeh, PhD

Assistant Scientific Director, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
Associate Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Uniformed Services University

James A. Naifeh, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Assistant Scientific Director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress. Following an undergraduate education at the University of Colorado, Dr. Naifeh received his PhD from the University of South Dakota, where he completed the Doctoral Specialty Track in Clinical/Disaster Psychology and served as a Morgan Fellow in the Disaster Mental Health Institute. He completed his clinical internship with the VA Maryland Health Care System and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Dr. Naifeh’s research aims to advance understanding, prediction, and prevention of suicidal behavior and stress-related disorders in military personnel. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed research articles, including publications in Nature Mental Health, JAMA Psychiatry, JAMA Network Open, and Molecular Psychiatry. Dr. Naifeh has served as an investigator and collaborator on studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Department of War, and Department of the Army. He is Co-Principal Investigator of the Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers–Longitudinal Study (STARRS-LS), the follow-on and expansion of Army STARRS, the largest epidemiological and neurobiological study of suicide risk and resilience ever conducted in the US military. He is also Principal Investigator of the SAFEGUARD Pathfinding study, which uses machine learning to target a scalable telehealth case management intervention designed to prevent suicidal behaviors among servicemembers recently discharged from psychiatric hospitalization. Dr. Naifeh has received recognition for his research contributions, including the 2025 Llewellyn J. Legters Award for Excellence in Population Health Research from the Uniformed Services University.

 Visit ResearchGate for a list of Dr. Naifeh’s publications.