Brenda Cabrera-Mendoza

I am an Assistant Professor in Suicidology at the National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention (NASP) at Karolinska Institutet. I am a physician-scientist with training in psychiatric genetics and genomics. I received my MD and PhD from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) through the Plan of Combined Studies in Medicine (PECEM), an integrated MD–PhD program at the Faculty of Medicine, and completed my postdoctoral training at Yale University before joining Karolinska Institutet.

My research focuses on understanding the genetic and epigenetic factors that contribute to suicidal thoughts and behaviors and related psychiatric conditions, particularly substance use disorders. I use approaches from statistical genetics, genomics, and epigenomics to better understand the biological mechanisms underlying suicide risk and how these findings might ultimately contribute to prevention and treatment.

I am also interested in improving diversity in psychiatric genomics and increasing the representation of underrepresented populations in genomic research.