Rob Cramer

Profile 

I serve as the Belk Endowed Professor in Health Research in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Research interests, funding, & collaboration: My research expertise spans suicide prevention, military health, violence prevention, collegiate mental health, firearm cultural competence, quantitative methods, social science, law & policy, and community-engaged research. I’ve been fortunate to receive research funding from SAMHSA, U.S. Navy Clinical Investigations Program, DoD, Department of Veterans Affairs, NIMH, NSF, and a variety of private sources. I place a high value on interdisciplinary collaboration with collaborators in nursing, athletic training, law, and variety of other disciplines. Community partners in recent years include the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Psychology For All, North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, PhD Balance, among others. Past and current international collaborative efforts include partnership with the Department of Psychological Sciences and Health at the University of Strathclyde (Scotland), Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention Griffith University (Australia), Criminology Institute at Griffith University (Australia), Department of Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland), Ashworth High Secure Hospital/School of Psychology at University of Central Lancashire (England), Psychology at the University of Pécs (Hungary), and White & Associates Forensic Psychology/Department of Psychology at University of South Australia (Australia).

Mentoring & training: I very much enjoy working with students across training levels! As such, I welcome interested inquiries from potential research student mentees. My teaching spans methods, theories, mental health/suicide prevention, law/policy, and general service courses. Grounded in the Jesuit ideal of Cura Personalis (educating or caring for the whole person), I value mentoring graduate and undergraduate student research and career development. Mentees have gone on to pursue doctoral degrees in many disciplines (e.g., psychology, health services research, public health sciences), and assumed careers in private practice, healthcare, academia, military, non-profit and other industry research. Our current team comprises the UNC Charlotte Violence Prevention Center where I serve as the Associate Director of Education & Training. Among our current efforts is expanding the VPC’s Training Series and building postdoctoral and student mentoring infrastructure. Check out what some of my current and former mentees are up to!

Brittany Bate, Ph.D.; Andréa Kaniuka, PhD; Tess Gemberling, Ph.D.; Molly Long-Diehl, Ph.D.; Julie Stoner, Ph.D.; Hayley Wechsler, Ph.D.;  Sasha Zabelski, MS; Skyler Prowten, MA; Ava Peters.

Service: My community, professional and university service tends to focus on three core areas: scholarly dissemination, student development, and mental health. For instance, I currently serves on editorial boards for the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Aggressive Behavior, and Psychology, Public Policy and Law. Student-focused service includes, but is not limited to, thesis and dissertation committees, prior supervision of Psi Chi (psychology undergraduate honors society), and previous management of Ph.D. student applications to APA-accredited internships. I am an active CE trainer, having delivered variations of my Core Competency Suicide Prevention Training program to more than 5000 professionals and students over my career.

More about me:

NIH NCBI My Bibliography | Google Scholar | H-Index | Linkedin

Full CV available upon request

Education

• BA. – Loyola University Maryland, 2004, Psychology
• MA. – University of Alabama (Roll Tide!), 2006, Psychology
• Ph.D. – University of Alabama (Roll Tide!), 2010, Clinical Psychology (Psychology-Law Track; Quantitative Methods Minor)
• Pre-Doctoral Internship & Research Fellow – University of California San Francisco, 2009-2010

Sample Teaching

• Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods
• Health Policy & Law
• Interprofessional Approaches to Suicide Prevention
• Measurement and Scale Development
• Program Evaluation

Sample Research Tools and Trainings:

Example Training Curricula:

• Core Competency Model for Corrections (CCM-C)
• Interprofessional Education Suicide Prevention Training (IPE Suicide Prevention Training)
• Core Competency Model of Suicide Prevention Training (CCM)

Example Research & Practice Instruments (available upon request):

• • Self-Injury Risk Assessment Protocol for Corrections (SIRAP-C)
  • Suicide Competency Assessment Form (SCAF)

Selected Awards & Honors

• American Psychological Association Editor’s Choice Article: 2024
• UNC Charlotte Chancellor’s Million Dollar Research Circle: 2024
• UNC Charlotte College of Health and Human Services Faculty Excellence in Research Award: 2021
• American Public Health Association Award for Excellence: 2020
• University of Strathclyde Honorary Research Fellow: 2017
• University of Central Lancashire Honorary Research Fellow: 2016
• Alpha Chi Outstanding Faculty Award (Honors College Outstanding Teacher): 2014

Selected Publications (from more than 200; † = invited piece; ‡ = student co-author)

Pirelli, G., Wechsler, H., & Cramer, R.J. (2018). The Behavioral Science of Firearms: A Mental Health Perspective on Guns, Suicide, and Violence. Oxford University Press: New York, NY.

Cramer, R.J., Nobles, M.N., ‡Rooney, E., & Rasmussen, S. (In Press). A Psychometric Evaluation of The Life  Attitudes Schedule-Short Form. Death Studies.

Cramer, R.J., Hawgood, J., Kaniuka, A.R., Brooks, B., & Baker, J. (2024). Updated Suicide Prevention Core Competencies for Mental Health Professionals: Implications for Training, Research, and Practice. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 31, 275-293. 

Cramer, R.J., Cacace, S., Coffey, A., Kaniuka, A.R., ‡Robertson, R.A., Hazlett, E., & Peiper, L.J. (2024). Latent Profiles and Psychosocial Correlates of Persistent Self-Injury among Incarcerated Adults. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 93, 101967.

Rasmussen, S., Cramer, R.J., ‡Nascimbene, L., ‡Robertson, R.A., Cacace, S., & Bowling, J. (2023). A Qualitative Assessment and Short-Term Mediation Analysis of Defeat, Entrapment, and Suicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 53, 880-892.

Cramer, R.J., Franks, M., Cunningham, C.A., & Bryan, C.J. (2022). Preferences in Information Processing: Understanding Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors among Active Duty Military Service Members. Archives of Suicide Research, 26(1), 169-186.

Cramer, R.J., Montanaro, E., VanSickle, M., Cacace S., ‡Zabelski, S., Smith, E.L., Franks, M., Grover, S., &     Cunningham, C.A. (2022). A Psychometric Assessment of the Military Suicide Attitudes Questionnaire (MSAQ). Psychiatry Research, 317, 114849.

Cramer, R.J., Peiper, L.J., ‡Kaniuka, A.R., Diaz-Garelli, F., Baker, J.C., & ‡Robertson, R.A. (2022). Development of The Self-Injury Risk Assessment Protocol for Corrections (SIRAP-C). Law and Human Behavior, 46(3), 227-243.

Cramer, R.J., Franks, M., Cunningham, C.A., & Bryan, C.J. (2022). Preferences in Information Processing: Understanding Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors among Active Duty Military Service Members. Archives of Suicide Research, 26(1), 169-186.

Cramer, R.J., Judah, M.R., Badger, N.L., Holley, A.M., ‡Judd, S., Peterson, M., ‡Hager, N., Vandecar-Burdin, T., & Foss, J.J. (2022). Suicide on College Campuses: A Public Health Framework and Case Illustration. Journal of American College Health, 70(1), 1-8.

Cramer, R.J., Gunn, L., ‡Kaniuka, A.R., & Rasmussen, S. (2021). Making the Case for a Preferences in Information Processing Model of Suicide. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 40, 359-380.

Cramer, R.J., Ireland, J.L., ‡Long, M.M., Hartley, V., & Lamis, D.A. (2020). Initial Validation of the Suicide Competency Assessment Form among Behavioral Health Staff in the National Health Services (NHS) Trust. Archives of Suicide Research, 24, S136-S149.

Cunningham, C.A., Cramer, R.J., Cacace, S., Franks, M., & Desmarais, S.L. (2020). The Coping Self-Efficacy Scale: Psychometric Properties in an Outpatient Sample of Active Duty Military Personnel. Military Psychology, 32, 261-272.

‡Kaniuka, A.R., ‡Oakey-Frost, N., ‡Moscardini, E., Tucker, R.P., Rasmussen, S., & Cramer, R.J. (2020). Grit, humor style, and suicidal behavior: Results from a comparative study of adults in the U.S. and U.K. Personality and Individual Differences, 163, 110047.