Brognar was awarded a 2019 Presidential Citation for his impressive clinical, research and teaching career focused on the most vulnerable in our society, especially impoverished and underserved populations.
Early in his career, Bongar developed strong interests in identifying the risk factors associated with suicidal behavior and clinical emergencies. He co-directed the National Institute of Mental Health Pediatric Psychology training center at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and University of Southern California School of Medicine. He served as duty officer of the psychiatric emergency team for the County of Los Angeles Department of Mental Health.
Bongar helped create the Cultural Assessment for Risk of Suicide instrument for identifying culturally-specific suicide risk factors. He also helped create and was the first co-director of training and co-chair of the PGSP–Stanford Doctor of Psychology Program, recognized by APA with an award for excellence in graduate education. He also held an appointment for many years as consulting professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, and recently was a visiting professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.
Bongar also served as a researcher on a major effort to understand a crisis in suicide among the homeless population of Phoenix, Arizona in collaboration with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council’s priority to improve awareness of suicidality and disparities among homeless populations.
He serves as the research director on a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services-funded collaborative project with the Navajo Technical University aimed at addressing substance use, suicide prevention and crisis management in the Navajo Nation community.
Bongar has held many professional leadership positions and earned accolades including the Edwin S. Shneidman Award for outstanding contributions to research in suicidology, the Louis I. Dublin Award for significant lifetime career contributions to research in suicidology, and the Florence Halpern award for career contributions in clinical psychology.
In recognition of his decades-long career demonstrating a passionate dedication to understanding and reducing suicide risk among the most impoverished and vulnerable members of our society, I, Rosie Phillips Davis, take pleasure in awarding this Presidential Citation to Bruce Bongar, PhD.