Professor Diego de Leo

Diego de Leo is an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Griffith University in Brisbane, where he is Director Emeritus of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention. He was the founder of the Life Promotion Clinic, the only clinical service in Australia that deals exclusively with suicidal patients, and also the creator and former convenor of the Postgraduate programs, Graduate Certificate and Master of Suicidology at the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP), at Griffith University.

Professor de Leo was President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and co-founder and Past-President of the International Academy for Suicide Research (IASR) of which he is also co-founder of the journal Archives of Suicide Research. Prof De Leo was the initiator (2003) of the World Day for the Prevention of Suicide (10 September). Member of the editorial board of numerous international journals, he is the Editor Emeritus of the journal Crisis. Prof De Leo has published extensively, with more than 500 peer-reviewed articles, 190 book chapters, 60 volumes and over 400 conference presentations. Winner of numerous national and international awards, in 2007 he was awarded the title of Doctor of Science by Griffith University for his research on suicide and psychogeriatrics.

On January 26, 2013, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the title of Officer of the Order of Australia. In 2017, he received the Morselli Award from the International Academy for Suicide Research in Las Vegas. Previously, he won the Stengel Award from the International Association for Suicide Prevention, the Dublin Award from the American Association of Suicidology and the Suicide Prevention Australia Research and Career Awards.

Prof De Leo is presently Director of the Psychology Department at Primorska University, Slovenia, and Director of the Slovene Center for Suicide Research. He is Vice-President of the Italian Association of Psychogeriatrics and promoter of the national day to combat loneliness. He is the President of the World Alliance of Crisis Helplines (WACH).

His scientific work has attracted over 55,000 citations on SCOPUS, with an h-index of 68 (1 January 2021). The foundation in the name of his children, De Leo Fund, based in Padua, Italy, is now a national and international reference for the assistance to people who have suffered a traumatic loss.