Hanga Galfalvy, PhD, is Associate Professor of Biostatistics (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University Irving Medical center, with joint appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons and the Department of Biostatistics at Mailman School of Public Health. She is a co-Investigator in the Conte Center for Suicide Prevention Database and Statistical Core 4.

Research Focus

Dr. Galfalvy has worked as a co-Investigator or statistician on several large studies of suicidal behavior. Her research focuses on predictive models for suicide attempts, the genetic basis for suicide, and the effect of the interaction of stress and trait variables on the risk of suicide and suicide attempts. She has authored more than 80 papers published in peer-reviewed psychiatric journals, is a reviewer on numerous scientific journals, as well as reviewer of grants for AFSP and other organizations, and has served on the scientific committee of several conferences.

Select Publications

Bartlett EA, Zanderigo F, Stanley B, Choo TH, Galfalvy HC, Pantazatos SP, Sublette ME, Miller JM, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ. In vivo serotonin transporter and 1A receptor binding potential and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of stress in major depression and suicidal behavior. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2023 May;70:1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2023.01.006. Epub 2023 Feb 11. PMID: 36780841; PMCID: PMC10121874.

Herzog S, Keilp JG, Galfalvy H, Mann JJ, Stanley BH. Attentional control deficits and suicidal ideation variability: An ecological momentary assessment study in major depression. J Affect Disord. 2023 Feb 15;323:819-825. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.053. Epub 2022 Dec 19. PMID: 36549341.

Herzog S, Choo TH, Galfalvy H, Mann JJ, Stanley BH. Effect of non-suicidal self-injury on suicidal ideation: real-time monitoring study. Br J Psychiatry. 2022 Aug;221(2):485-487. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2021.225. PMID: 35081996; PMCID: PMC9296595.

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.

Stanley B, Martínez-Alés G, Gratch I, Rizk M, Galfalvy H, Choo TH, Mann JJ. Coping strategies that reduce suicidal ideation: An ecological momentary assessment study. J Psychiatr Res. 2021 Jan;133:32-37. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.012. Epub 2020 Dec 3. PMID: 33307352; PMCID: PMC8659118.

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.

Stanley B, Michel CA, Galfalvy HC, Keilp JG, Rizk MM, Richardson-Vejlgaard R, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ. Suicidal subtypes, stress responsivity and impulsive aggression. Psychiatry Res. 2019 Oct;280:112486. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2019.112486. Epub 2019 Jul 16. PMID: 31376789; PMCID: PMC7027392.

Rizk MM, Choo TH, Galfalvy H, Biggs E, Brodsky BS, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ, Stanley B. Variability in Suicidal Ideation is Associated with Affective Instability in Suicide Attempters with Borderline Personality Disorder. Psychiatry. 2019 Summer;82(2):173-178. doi: 10.1080/00332747.2019.1600219. Epub 2019 Apr 23. PMID: 31013205; PMCID: PMC6554039.

Szanto K, Galfalvy H, Vanyukov PM, Keilp JG, Dombrovski AY. Pathways to Late-Life Suicidal Behavior: Cluster Analysis and Predictive Validation of Suicidal Behavior in a Sample of Older Adults With Major Depression. J Clin Psychiatry. 2018 Mar/Apr;79(2). pii: 17m11611. doi: 10.4088/JCP.17m11611. PubMed PMID: 29489076; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5932247.

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.

Rizk MM, Galfalvy H, Singh T, Keilp JG, Sublette ME, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ, Stanley B. Toward subtyping of suicidality: Brief suicidal ideation is associated with greater stress response. J Affect Disord. 2018 Apr 1;230:87-92. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.01.012. PubMed PMID: 29407544; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5811401.

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.

Underwood MD, Kassir SA, Bakalian MJ, Galfalvy H, Dwork AJ, Mann JJ, Arango V. Serotonin receptors and suicide, major depression, alcohol use disorder and reported early life adversity. Transl Psychiatry. 2018 Dec 14;8(1):279. doi: 10.1038/s41398-018-0309-1. PubMed PMID: 30552318; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6294796.

Boldrini M, Galfalvy H, Dwork AJ, Rosoklija GB, Trencevska-Ivanovska I, Pavlovski G, Hen R, Arango V, Mann JJ. Resilience Is Associated With Larger Dentate Gyrus, While Suicide Decedents With Major Depressive Disorder Have Fewer Granule Neurons. Biol Psychiatry. 2019 Jan 17. pii: S0006-3223(19)30032-0. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.12.022. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30819514.

Steinberg LJ, Rubin-Falcone H, Galfalvy HC, Kaufman J, Miller JM, Sublette ME, Cooper TB, Min E, Keilp JG, Stanley BH, Oquendo MA, Ogden RT, Mann JJ. Cortisol Stress Response and in Vivo PET Imaging of Human Brain Serotonin 1A Receptor Binding. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2019 Mar 28. pii: pyz009. doi: 10.1093/ijnp/pyz009. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30927011.