Biography
Alexandria Smith joined the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College in 2023. She holds a combined PhD in Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Nursing, and an MSN in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing from Yale University. Additionally, she earned an MSPH in Health Policy Research from Emory University.
Her research primarily addresses the prevalence and prevention of mental health disorders, suicide, self-injurious behaviors, and substance use across diverse populations, including veterans, individuals living with HIV, and adolescents. Alexandria's work aims to uncover effective strategies to reduce self-harm and enhance behavioral health services. She has experience in data analysis using large public-use data sets, electronic health records, vital statistics, and census data.
Before joining King’s College, Alexandria worked as a research programmer at the RAND Corporation and conducted her doctoral research at the West Haven VA in Orange, CT. She is also a psychiatric nurse practitioner with experience working in a variety of clinical settings, including outpatient mental health services and behavioral crisis units.
Research Interests
Epidemiology
Mental Health
Substance Use
Armed Forces Community and Veterans
Data Linkage
Using EHR data to identify populations at risk of suicide.
Social Determinants of Health
Barriers to care
Teaching
Research methods and statistics for the MSc in Psychiatric Research, IoPPN, KCL
Systematic reviews for the MSc in War & Psychiatry, IoPPN, KCL
Key Publications
A Systematic Review of Risk Factors for Suicide Among Persons Living with HIV (1996-2020) - PubMed (nih.gov)
Risk factors for suicide among veterans living with and without HIV: a nested case-control study - PubMed (nih.gov)