Daiane Borges Machado, PhD

Daiane Borges Machado PhD (in Epidemiology and Population Health from LSHTM https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/ in the UK) is a research fellow at Harvard Medical School and a research associate at the Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health – CIDACS/FIOCRUZ https://cidacs.bahia.fiocruz.br/. She is the PI of the R01MH128911-01 https://reporter.nih.gov/search/nkw_TgJLukSvmhYj9rhfSw/project-details/10374288 project, which mainly focuses on evaluating sociodetermination, and the impact and mechanisms that link a cash transfer government program to better mental health and lower suicide risk, performing statistical analyses on big datasets from The 100 Million Brazilian Cohort housed at CIDACS/FIOCRUZ.

Since 2007 Daiane has been investigating suicide and mental health-related outcomes, also focusing on gender differences on those outcomes. She has published several scientific papers (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2959-4650), including one of the most cited papers in the area in Brazil (Suicide in Brazil from 2000 to 2012) which has 151 citations to date. She was awarded seven grants and scholarships, and the Andrej Marušič Award from the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) in recognition of her contribution to the field of suicide. She has also worked as a Mental Health Expert for several Non-Governmental Organizations and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), from the WHO.

Daiane’s research has contributed to the use of new strategies for evaluation of mental health and cash transfer programs, showing that panel data and secondary data analyses can be powerful tools to evaluate the impact of policies and interventions in mental health at a lower cost. Daiane has also practiced as a clinical psychologist in Brazil and worked for three years in mental health and suicide prevention in a Non-Governmental Organization, including one year as a coordinator. With a background in Psychology, Epidemiology and Population Health, moving forward, her interests aim at applying these learnings towards the development of innovative technologies, to address mental health care gaps, gender gaps and promote population health.

Working with Dr. Vikram Patel