Yeates Conwell, M.D.

Professional Background

Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry
Director, Geriatric Psychiatry Program
Director, URMC Office for Aging Research and Health Services
Co-Director, Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide
Co-Director, UR/CDC Injury Control Research Center on Suicide Prevention


Dr. Yeates Conwell is Professor and Vice Chair, Co-Director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide and Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Program of the Department of Psychiatry, and Director of the University of Rochester Medical Center's Office for Aging Research and Health Services. In 2012, he was selected as an Innovation Advisor for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. He has lectured and written extensively on suicide and depression in later life, drawing on research that has been continuously funded by NIH institutes, the CDC, and foundation support for the past 25 years. He has been a regular member of NIH review panels, was President of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and serves as consultant to agencies and centers dedicated to suicide prevention research worldwide. The primary foci of Dr. Conwell's research are risk factors for suicide in the second half of life and their implications for service system redesign, with particular emphasis on the design and implementation of preventive interventions in community settings, and their linkage to healthcare services. As well, Dr. Conwell maintains a clinical practice providing care to older adults.

Dr. Conwell received his MD degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and psychiatry residency and postdoctoral research training at Yale University School of Medicine.