Rajeev Ramchand (he/him) is codirector of the RAND Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute and a senior behavioral scientist at RAND. He studies the prevalence, prevention, and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders in adolescents, service members and veterans, and minority populations. He has conducted research on suicide and suicide prevention including environmental scans of suicide prevention programs, epidemiologic studies on risk factors for suicide, qualitative research with suicide loss survivors, systematic reviews of the role of firearm availability, storage, and policies on suicide, and evaluations of suicide prevention programs. He has also developed freely available tools to help organizations to evaluate their own suicide prevention programs. In 2022, he was appointed by the Secretary of Defense to serve as a member of the Department of Defense Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee. He has testified on suicide prevention before the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
In addition to his research on suicide, Ramchand studies military and veteran caregivers; the changing legal and policy environment for psychedelic substances; the impact of disasters on community health; and public health approaches to combatting violent extremism. He holds a Ph.D. in psychiatric epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago.
Selected Publications
Ramchand R, Ayer L, Kotzias V, Engel C, Predmore Z, Ebener P, Kemp J, Karras E, Haas G, "Suicide Risk among Female Veterans in Distress: Perspectives of Responders on the Veterans Crisis Line," Women's Health Inssues, 26, 2016
Helmus, Todd C., Ryan Andrew Brown, and Rajeev Ramchand, Prevalence of Veteran Support for Extremist Groups and Extremist Beliefs: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey of the U.S. Veteran Community, RAND Corporation (RR-A1071-2-v2), 2023
Ramchand, Rajeev, Terri Tanielian, Michael P. Fisher, Christine Anne Vaughan, Thomas E. Trail, Caroline Batka, Phoenix Voorhies, Michael W. Robbins, Eric Robinson, and Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, Hidden Heroes: America's Military Caregivers, RAND Corporation (RR-499-TEDF), 2014
Ramchand R, Jaycox LH, Ebener P, Barnes-Proby D, Gilbert ML, Goutam P, "Characteristics and Proximal Outcomes of Calls Made to Suicide Crisis Hotlines in California: Variability across Centers," Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention
Ramchand R, Franklin E, Thornton E, Deland S, Rouse JC, "Opportunities to Intervene? “Warning Signs” for Suicide in the Days before Dying," Death Studies, 2017
Ramchand, Rajeev, Lisa H. Jaycox, and Patricia A. Ebener, Suicide Prevention Hotlines in California: Diversity in Services, Structure, and Organization and the Potential Challenges Ahead, RAND Corporation (RR-1497-CMHSA), 2016
Ramchand R, Acosta J, Burns R, Jaycox L, Pernin C., The War Within: Preventing Suicide in the US Military (MG-953-OSD)., RAND Corporation (MG-953), 2011
Schwartz HL, Ramchand R, Barnes-Proby D, Grant S, Jackson BA, Leuschner KJ, Matsuda M, Saunders J., The Role of Technology in Improving K-12 School Safety, RAND Corporation (RR-1488), 2016