Jeremy Pettit is a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Florida International University (FIU), where he serves as Executive Director of the Center for Children and Families. His research aims to advance understanding of the causes and maintenance of depression, anxiety, and suicidal behaviors in youth, and to translate such understanding into innovative, evidence-based interventions that are both scalable and accessible. With more than $40 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health since 2006, Dr. Pettit’s program of research has identified key cognitive and interpersonal mechanisms that drive internalizing disorders and has led to the development of novel interventions, including attention training and suicide-specific cognitive behavioral therapies, to improve outcomes for at-risk youth.

Dr. Pettit has authored more than 190 scholarly publications, including award-winning books on depression and Overcoming Suicidal Thoughts for Teens, which provides youth with evidence-based strategies for coping and resilience. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the inaugural two-volume APA Handbook of Depression, a comprehensive resource that synthesizes the state of the science on depression and shapes future directions in research, clinical practice, and training. His work has led to clinical guidelines for assessing and managing suicide risk in youth and contributed to the implementation of attention training interventions for anxiety disorders.

Dr. Pettit has held several leadership roles, including Chair of FIU’s Department of Psychology, where he oversaw a substantial increase in research expenditures, placing the department among the top five nationally in funding. As Executive Director of the Center for Children and Families, he leads an interdisciplinary team of 40 faculty and 90 staff with more than 60 active grants totaling nearly $100 million, supporting clinical programs that provide evidence-based mental health services to more than 3,500 families annually and serving as a training hub for over 500 undergraduate and graduate students each year. He is also a founding member of the Executive Board of the Association for Cognitive Bias Modification, committed to advancing research on cognitive biases and their translational treatment applications for mental illnesses.

His contributions to science have been recognized with numerous honors, including multiple faculty awards for excellence at FIU and the Edwin S. Shneidman Award from the American Association of Suicidology for outstanding contributions to suicide prevention among youth.