Ainsley Burke, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University. She is a Co-Investigator in the Conte Center for Suicide Prevention, Clinical Evaluation Core 2.

Dr. Burke received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. She received both her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the New School for Social Research. Dr. Burke joined the department in 1997 after completing her internship at the Brooklyn, VA Medical Center.

Research Focus

Dr. Burke’s interests include an emphasis on the diagnostic process and suicidal behavior. She is in charge of training clinicians on a variety of instruments and she provides direct clinical supervision to the clinical assessors.

Select Publications

1. Buerke M, Galfalvy H, Keilp JG, Sheftall AH, Burke AK, Bridge JA, Mann JJ, Szanto K. Age
effects on clinical and neurocognitive risk factors for suicide attempt in depression – Findings
from the AFSP lifespan study. Journal of affective disorders. 2021 December 1;295:123-130.
PubMed PMID: 34425314; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8551053; DOI:
10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.014.

2. Oquendo MA, Galfalvy HC, Choo TH, Kandlur R, Burke AK, Sublette ME, Miller JM, Mann JJ,
Stanley BH. Highly variable suicidal ideation: a phenotypic marker for stress induced suicide risk.
Mol Psychiatry. 2021 Sep;26(9):5079-5086. doi: 10.1038/s41380-020-0819-0.
Epub 2020 Jun 23. PMID: 32576966; PMCID: PMC7755748.

3. Schneck N, Tu T, Falcone HR, Miller JM, Zanderigo F, Sublette ME, Oquendo MA, Stanley B,
Burke A, Ochsner K, Sajda P, John Mann J. Large-scale network dynamics in neural response
to emotionally negative stimuli linked to serotonin 1A binding in major depressive disorder.
Molecular psychiatry. 2020 April 30. PubMed PMID: 32355333; PubMed Central PMCID:
PMC7606327; DOI: 10.1038/s41380-020-0733-5.

4. Itzhaky L, Gratch I, Galfalvy H, Keilp JG, Burke AK, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ, Stanley BH.
Psychosocial risk factors and outcomes associated with suicide attempts in childhood:
A retrospective study. J Psychiatr Res. 2020 Jun;125:129-135. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.03.008.
Epub 2020 Mar 18. PMID: 32278224; PMCID: PMC7217666.

5. Rizk MM, Galfalvy H, Miller JM, Milak M, Parsey R, Grunebaum M, Burke A, Sublette ME,
Oquendo MA, Stanley B, Mann JJ. Characteristics of depressed suicide attempters with
remitted substance use disorders. Journal of psychiatric research. 2020 October 30. PubMed
PMID: 33158553; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.10.041.

6. Holper L, Lan MJ, Brown PJ, Sublette EM, Burke A, Mann JJ. Brain cytochrome-c-oxidase
as a marker of mitochondrial function: A pilot study in major depression using
NIRS. Depression and anxiety. 2019 August;36(8):766-779. PubMed PMID: 31111623;
PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6716511; DOI: 10.1002/da.22913.

7. Venezia RG, Gorlyn M, Burke AK, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ, Keilp JG. The impact of
cognitive reserve on neurocognitive performance in Major Depressive Disorder.
Psychiatry Res. 2018 Dec;270:211-218. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.09.031. Epub
2018 Sep 15. PubMed PMID: 30267985.

8. Abreu LN, Oquendo MA, Galfavy H, Burke A, Grunebaum MF, Sher L, Sullivan GM,
Sublette ME, Mann J, Lafer B. Are comorbid anxiety disorders a risk factor for suicide
attempts in patients with mood disorders? A two-year prospective study. European
psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists. 2018
January;47:19-24. PubMed PMID: 29096128; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5766396;
DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.09.005.

9. Parris MS, Marver JE, Chaudhury SR, Ellis SP, Metts AV, Keilp JG, Burke AK,
Oquendo MA, Mann JJ, Grunebaum MF. Effects of anxiety on suicidal ideation:
exploratory analysis of a paroxetine versus bupropion randomized trial. Int Clin
Psychopharmacol. 2018 Sep;33(5):249-254. doi: 10.1097/YIC.0000000000000225.
PubMed PMID: 29864037; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6066420.

10. Fornaro M, Grunebaum MF, Burke AK, Mann JJ, Oquendo MA. Comparison of familial
and non-familial suicidal behaviors among people with major depressive disorder:
Testing the discriminative predicting role of high-yield clinical variables. J
Psychiatr Res. 2018 Jul;102:118-122. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.02.021. Epub
2018 Feb 23. PubMed PMID: 29635115.

11. Parris MS, Grunebaum MF, Galfalvy HC, Andronikashvili A, Burke AK, Yin H, Min
E, Huang YY, Mann JJ. Attempted suicide and oxytocin-related gene polymorphisms.
J Affect Disord. 2018 Oct 1;238:62-68. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.05.022. Epub 2018
May 17. PubMed PMID: 29860184.

12. Grunebaum MF, Galfalvy HC, Choo TH, Keilp JG, Moitra VK, Parris MS, Marver JE,
Burke AK, Milak MS, Sublette ME, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ. Ketamine for Rapid
Reduction of Suicidal Thoughts in Major Depression: A Midazolam-Controlled
Randomized Clinical Trial. Am J Psychiatry. 2018 Apr 1;175(4):327-335. doi:
10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17060647. Epub 2017 Dec 5. PubMed PMID: 29202655; PubMed
Central PMCID: PMC5880701.

13. Keilp JG, Ellis SP, Gorlyn M, Burke AK, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ, Grunebaum MF.
Suicidal ideation declines with improvement in the subjective symptoms of major
depression. J Affect Disord. 2018 Feb;227:65-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.09.018.
Epub 2017 Sep 19. PubMed PMID: 29053977.