Our Members

Cynthia Ewell Foster, M.D., is a clinical associate professor in the department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan and leads the community engagement core for U-M’s Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. The former director of U-M’s University Center for the Child and Family, she holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (Child and Family Subspecialty).

Dr. Ewell Foster leads the Suicide Prevention Research in the Community Lab (SPRCL), which is affiliated with the Youth Depression and Suicide Prevention (YDSP) program. Dr. Ewell Foster’s research focuses on community-engaged suicide prevention strategies with the goal of optimizing the protective influences of the systems that surround youth (such as family, schools, communities, and the health care system). Her research and program evaluation work has been funded by the NIMH, CDC, and SAMHSA as well as local and national foundations.

Dr. Ewell Foster is also a clinician and clinical educator; she specializes in suicide risk assessment and care management, treatments for internalizing disorders, and the development of family and community supports for young people. Dr. Ewell Foster is the co-author of Teen Suicide Risk: A Practitioner Guide to Screening, Assessment, and Management published by Guilford Press. Dr. Ewell Foster leads Michigan’s SAMHSA-funded Youth Suicide Prevention Emergency Department Network and provides trainings for clinicians statewide on Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk.