MIRECC / CoE
A Goodbye as Director: CoE Celebrates Dr. Wilfred Pigeon's Tenure
A Goodbye as Director: CoE Celebrates Dr. Wilfred Pigeon's Tenure
From the desk of Stephanie Gamble, Ph.D., Acting Executive Director
Last month the Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention (CoE) bid farewell to its Executive Director of the past six years. During this time, Wilfred Pigeon, PhD, played a prominent role in the growth of the CoE, in no small part thanks to his leadership.
In his tenure as Director, Dr. Pigeon articulated a clear path forward to achieve the Center’s mission.
Goal 1: Continually enhance a leading-edge suicide surveillance system of all Veterans.
Goal 2: Identify target populations and settings for future interventions.
Goal 3: Shape the development of effective interventions across the suicide risk continuum.
Goal 4: Drive novel suicide prevention training programs and disseminate information related to prevention.
His leadership fostered the ambition needed to move the needle forward on all four goals. The CoE continues to support and enhance the VA’s suicide surveillance system. Our research portfolio has expanded to encompass a national network of researchers across a variety of career stages and our grant funding has more than doubled. And those are just a few of the CoE’s accomplishments!
Despite the tremendous growth and productivity the Center experienced over the last six years, Dr. Pigeon’s favorite part of being Director remains in the small moments he got to experience with the Center’s greatest asset—its people.
Dr. Pigeon has been with the Center since shortly after its inception, and we are lucky that he will continue to serve as a Senior Investigator, investigating the effects of combining sleep and other treatments to enhance overall care and mitigate suicide risk among Veterans. The best is yet to come from the Pigeon laboratory!
As Acting Director, I have some big shoes to fill, but I know that I can count on the incredible team we’ve assembled here at the CoE. Together, we will continue our mission to serve Veterans, enhance care and improve the lives of Veterans and their families—the core of what drives us all each day.
Learn more about Dr. Pigeon and his work →
