Jordan DeVylder

ordan DeVylder is an Associate Professor at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. He has been on faculty since 2017. He received his MSW and PhD in Social Work from Columbia University, his MS in Cognition & Brain Science from Georgia Institute of Technology, and his BA in Psychology from New York University. He was previously employed at the University of Maryland School of Social Work as Assistant Professor, and as a clinician/researcher at New York State Psychiatric Institute.

Dr. DeVylder’s research is focused on preventive mental health, with a particular emphasis on psychosis and suicide. His research on the clinical significance of early psychotic symptoms has been published in leading social work and psychiatry journals, including JAMA Psychiatry, World Psychiatry, and Schizophrenia Bulletin. He is currently conducting a randomized trial to test an intervention to improve the detection of untreated psychosis by social workers employed in community settings, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. In suicide prevention research, he has funding from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to examine sub-clinical psychosis as an indicator of suicide risk among adolescents receiving emergency health services in Baltimore. He has several ongoing projects focused on the epidemiology of psychosis, examining the role of stress, urban upbringing, and crime victimization in psychosis etiology in the United States and internationally. He has more recently focused on studying the impact of police violence from a public mental health perspective, finding that exposure to police violence is associated with notably elevated levels of psychological distress, delusional thoughts, and suicidal behavior.

Dr. DeVylder has authored 70 peer-reviewed articles (30 as first author), more than a dozen commentaries and book chapters, and is currently principal investigator on grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. He teaches SWGS 6430: Advanced Clinical Assessment & Diagnosis I, and SWGS 6431: Advanced Clinical Assessment & Diagnosis II.

EDUCATION

• MSSW, MPhil, PhD, Columbia University, Social Work
• MS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Cognitive and Brain Sciences
• BA, New York University, Psychology

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Social Epidemiology of Psychosis and Suicide
• Risk for Suicide among People with Psychotic Symptoms
• Prevention and Early Intervention for Psychosis
• Police Violence from a Public Health Perspective