EDC Vice President Jerry Reed is director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Injury, Violence, and Suicide and also of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, which is based at EDC and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A dedicated advocate in the field of geriatrics and suicide prevention, Reed is a recognized leader in the national suicide prevention movement, helping to raise awareness about suicide prevention and to effect public policy changes in mental health legislation.
Prior to joining EDC, Reed was the executive director of the Suicide Prevention Action Network USA, a national nonprofit. He also spent 15 years as a career civil servant working in both Europe and the United States with the Department of the Army, where he developed and managed a number of social service programs. Selected as a Congressional Fellow in 1996, Reed worked as a senior health advisor to U.S. Senator Harry Reid.
Reed holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in social work with an emphasis in aging administration from the University of Maryland. He received a doctorate in health-related sciences with an emphasis in gerontology from the Virginia Commonwealth University.