Institute of Addiction and Mental Health for Journalists - Presenter Biographies 2005

Carolyn Abraham
Carolyn Abraham has been the medical reporter for The Globe and Mail since 1998. She has covers a wide range of research areas, from the science and ethics of advances in genetics, to stem cells and the outbreak of SARS. She has also written on issues related to depression, amnesia and other studies of the mind and brain. Some of this led to her book in 2001, Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein’s Brain.

Before joining The Globe, she worked for Southam News and The Ottawa Citizen, where she worked the police beat and wrote features before moving to Toronto in 1996 to cover Ontario politics at Queen’s Park. She graduated from Carleton University’s journalism school in 1991.

Karyn Baker
Karyn Baker is the Program Director of the Family Outreach and Response Program providing supports to family and friends of those recovering from serious mental health issues. Karyn has worked in mental health for 20 years and has been working with families for the past six. Prior to that time, Karyn worked as a consultant with Community Resources Consultants of Toronto and also managed the City of Toronto Mental Health Coordinating Committee.

Karyn has been able to work in many areas of mental health including:

• direct support for consumer/survivors and families
• community development and planning
• program and organizational development

Karyn is committed to ensuring that families learn about mental health recovery

Diana Capponi
Diana Capponi is a former client of both mental health and addiction services. She has been at the forefront of the consumer\survivor movement in Ontario, with a particular focus on economic and employment opportunities for people with mental health and addiction issues. She is a skilled public speaker and a recipient of a wide variety of awards presented to her for her work with the consumer\survivor community. Diana is the past Executive Director of the Ontario Council of Alternative Businesses, a unique provincial organization committed to the provision of employment through the development of Alternative Businesses. Presently approximately 1000 former clients work and run these businesses entirely on their own. Through her 14 years of work at the Council, and her experience operating Fresh Start Cleaning, a Toronto-based janitorial service, Diana learned first hand the importance of employment to one's mental health. Diana (after much musing) recently took her passion for employment to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Here her skills will assist the Centre achieve its goal of having former clients employed within a wide cross section of positions. Diana strongly believes that a critical mass of former clients working alongside clinicians, managers, supervisors, researchers etc., will not only improve the quality of patient care, but will go a long way in addressing the discrimination faced by those who have mental health and addiction histories. 

Linda Chamberlain
Linda is a founding member of the Dream Team, which demonstrates the life-altering benefits of supportive housing by telling personal stories to all three levels of government and other groups to increase awareness of the need for more housing. Linda volunteers at the telephone support line at CAMH and speaks publicly about issues on mental health and addiction. Linda has also been involved with projects related to stigma.  Linda is a recipient of the 2002 Courage to Come Back Award

Jennifer Chambers
Jennifer Chambers is Coordinator of the Empowerment Council, which represents the approximately 20,000 clients at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (the largest mental health and addiction facility in Canada). She is also Co-Chair of the Mental Health Legal Advocacy Coalition which advances the legal rights and self-identified needs of psychiatric survivors (primarily through the judicial system). Prior to her work in advocacy she did research at the Clarke Institute and York University, taught tutorials for non-science students on how to evaluate scientific research at University of Toronto, worked at a crisis centre, facilitated support groups, and taught peer counseling.

Gail Czukar
Gail Czukar is Executive Vice-President, Policy & Planning and General Counsel at CAMH. She oversees CAMH's work in public policy, education, health promotion, strategic planning, community relations, diversity, ethics, and legal services. Gail and her team work closely with other provincial and local organizations to enhance the lives of people with mental illness and addictions. She has made numerous presentations to government and its Committees on issues related to reform of the mental health and addictions service system and on the empowerment of people who live with mental illness and addictions. Prior to coming to CAMH in 2000, Gail was a lawyer and policy manager with the Ontario Ministry of Heath and Long-Term Care. She advised the government on many areas of health law, legislation, and policy. She has also worked as a researcher and consultant, legal clinic lawyer, and community mental health program consultant. Gail has written and spoken on reform of the mental health system, privacy issues, law and policy relating to long-term care, mental heath, consent to treatment, and substitute decision-making.  She has a law degree from the University of Toronto (1983), an M.A. in Community Psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University (1975), and 30 years of experience in the combined fields of health, human services, and law.

Padraig Darby
Padraig Darby is Deputy Clinical Director in the Law and Mental Health Program and Chair of the Research Ethics Board. He has been involved in research ethics at CAMH and at the University of Toronto for over 20 years and currently sits as a member of Council of the National Council on Human Subjects Research, the body that provides guidance for researchers and ethicists on the ethical conduct of research in Canada.

Peter Farvolden, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Peter Farvolden is the Clinic Head of the Psychological Trauma Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Farvolden's area of clinical expertise is the psychological treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. He conducts personality research as it relates to the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. In collaboration with Dr. Peter Selby, Peter is involved in a number of projects related to nicotine dependence and smoking cessation. Peter is especially interested in the delivery of assessment and collaborative health behaviour change interventions via Telehealth and the Internet and the individual personality differences that may, in part, determine the efficacy of such interventions. Peter has helped to develop and refine Web-based collaborative health behaviour change programs for smoking cessation, depression, and panic disorder.

Paul E. Garfinkel, MD, F.R.C.P.(C )
Dr. Paul Garfinkel is currently President and CEO of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Manitoba in 1969, and following an internship at the Toronto Western Hospital, did a psychiatric residency at the University of Toronto. He then studied in the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto and later joined the staff of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry. In 1982, he was appointed Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the Toronto General Hospital, and in 1989 of The Toronto Hospital. In 1990, he became Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and President and Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry. He was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health, an organization formed from the merger the Addiction Research Foundation, The Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, The Donwood Institute and The Queen St. Mental Health Centre, in 1997.   In 1996, he was elected to Fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada. At various times, he has served as Visiting Professor in England, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Dr. Garfinkel is a researcher, clinician and administrator. He has received grant support for investigations in a variety of fields, including affective disorders, schizophrenia and stress. He is particularly well respected, however, for his clinical and research expertise in the field of eating disorders. He established a comprehensive Eating Disorders Centre at Toronto General Hospital; this program received the Gold Award from the American Psychiatric Association in 1989. Dr. Garfinkel has received numerous research and clinical awards in support of his work in this field, including studies of the prevalence, determinants, diagnosis and outcome of anorexia nervosa and treatment of bulimia nervosa. He is the co-author of Anorexia Nervosa:  A Multidimensional Perspective and has edited eight other books in the field, as well as contributing numerous articles to the professional literature (over 150 peer reviewed articles and 80 book chapters) and lecturing widely in his areas of expertise.

David S. Goldbloom, MD, F.R.C.P.(C)
Dr. Goldbloom was born in Montreal in 1953 and raised in Quebec and Nova Scotia. He completed an honours undergraduate degree, majoring in Government, at Harvard University and then attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he obtained an M.A. in Physiological Sciences.  He trained in medicine and psychiatry at McGill University and then spent three years as a Medical Research Council Centennial Fellow in the Program for Eating Disorders at The Toronto Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Paul Garfinkel. From 1985 to 1993, he was a staff psychiatrist at The Toronto Hospital where he worked on a general psychiatry inpatient unit and directed outpatient schizophrenia clinics. From 1989 to 1993, he was the Director of Fellowship Training in Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. From 1993 -1998, he was Head of the newly created Division of General Psychiatry within the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. In 1995, he became Vice President, Medical Affairs and Chief of Staff at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry. In 1998, he was appointed inaugural Physician-in-Chief of the newly created Centre for Addiction and Mental Health resulting from the merger of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, the Addiction Research Foundation, Queen Street Mental Health Centre, and the Donwood Institute. Upon completion of his term in 2003, he was appointed Senior Medical Advisor, Education and Public Affairs, at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. 

Dr. Goldbloom is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. In addition to his clinical and research activities, he has been active as a teacher within the Faculty of Medicine and in 1991 and 1995 was selected as one of the two outstanding teachers in the entire Faculty by the graduating medical class. He received the Department of Psychiatry's Robin Hunter Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Education in 1989 and the Abraham Miller Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education in 2000. In 1997, he was elected as a Senior Fellow of Massey College in the University of Toronto. In 1998, he was elected to the American College of Psychiatrists. In 2001, he received the Council Award of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, awarded annually to four outstanding physicians in the province. In 2005, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is the author of over 100 scientific articles and book chapters and has provided numerous talks and lectures to student, professional, and public audiences.

Shitij Kapur, MD, PhD
Dr Shitij Kapur, MD, PhD is currently the Canada Research Chair for Schizophrenia and Therapeutic Neuroscience, Chief for Research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and completed his psychiatric training at the University of Pittsburgh - where he developed an interest in the biology of schizophrenia. He subsequently completed a PhD and Fellowship at the University of Toronto and his main research interest is in the use of brain imaging and animal models to understand the basis of psychosis and its treatment. In the last few years, Dr Kapur has focused on studying brain receptors and neurotransmitters, particularly dopamine and serotonin, and their role in schizophrenia and antipsychotic action. He has also collaborated on research focusing on how animal models can be used to derive more innovative treatments for schizophrenia; indicating the central importance of 'sensitisation'. Dr Kapur's latest work uses psychological theories and computational models, and combines it with the phenomenological experience of patients to provide a more holistic understanding of the experience of psychosis and the impact of antipsychotic medications. 

Dr Kapur has published over a 100 papers and made numerous presentations worldwide. He has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of international companies and has received numerous national and international awards, including the Young Explorer Award of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. When not working on his research, he can cook a stunning lamb biryani!

Suanne Kelman
Suanne Kelman is the interim Chair at Ryerson's School of Journalism, which she joined in 1993. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Toronto, and taught English and African Literature at the University of Sierra Leone from 1974 to 1975.

Before joining Ryerson, she worked at CBC radio's Sunday Morning, CBC television's The Journal and The Globe and Mail. She is the author of All in the Family: A Cultural History of Family Life, and articles for Chatelaine, Shape, the Beaver, the Literary Review of Canada and other publications. She makes regular appearances on television and radio. At Ryerson, she has served on Academic Council, the Vision Task Group, the Academic Standards Committee, the Research Ethics Board, the Ryerson Faculty Association Executive and countless other committees.

When she is not working or reading, she likes to knit, cook and watch birds, although not usually at the same time.

Ted Lo
Hung-Tat (Ted) Lo obtained his medical education in Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada in 1975. In 1982, he started the Hong Fook Mental Health Association, an ethnospecific mental health agency now serving the Cambodian, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese populations in Toronto. He has also been actively involved in developing ethnocultural services in various communities, and was awarded the Service Award by the Canadian Mental Health Association in 1993. In 2001, He was appointed to the Toronto Peel Mental Health Reform Task Force by the Minister of Health and Long Term Care and co-chaired the System Responsiveness Task Force. Currently, he consults to CAMH, Mt. Sinai Hospital, and community agencies including Hong Fook Mental Health Association, and Across Boundaries Ethnoracial Mental Health Centre. He is a member of the Culture, Community and Health Studies program and an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

In 1998, he founded FACT (Friends of Alternative & Complementary Therapies Society), a non-profit organisation to promote credible information in complementary and alternative healthcare, and initiated the Integrative Healthcare Round Table. He was given the Prix Clarite Award by the Canadian Complementary Medicine Association in 2002.

Joan McDonald
Joan is the mother of a daughter with Bipolar Disorder. She was a founding member of the Family Resource Centre which opened at the College St. site in 1997 and is a Family group Facilitator at the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario. She is the former President of the Family Council at CAMH and current member of the Family Council Board. Joan is also a member on various committees, working groups and advisory committees.

Shelley McMain. Ph.D., C.Psych CAMH
Dr. McMain is a researcher, clinician and educator. She is the Head and founder of the Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Clinic at the CAMH and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. At the DBT Clinic, she oversees the work of an interdisciplinary group of clinicians and research assistants who study treatment delivery and actively participate in the provision of services for people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Dr. McMain's research interests and activities include an evaluation of the clinical and cost effectiveness of DBT for individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. She is currently the principal investigator on a Canadian Institute of Health Research funded multi-site trial and an Ontario Mental Health Foundation grant focused on the evaluation of psychosocial treatments for individuals diagnosed with BPD. She has published a number of journal articles and book chapters on DBT, personality disorders, the treatment of people diagnosed with concurrent disorders and psychotherapy research. She regularly presents at international scientific meetings on issues related to psychotherapy research. She is frequently invited to give presentations on DBT and has offered consultation to hospitals on the co-ordination of DBT services for people diagnosed with BPD.

Samuel Noh, PhD
Dr. Samuel Noh, Research Scientist and Head of the Culture, Community and Health Studies Section of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the David Crombie Professor of Cultural Pluralism and Health at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, was trained in sociology and epidemiology. His research focuses on social stress processes affecting the mental health of new immigrants and racial and cultural minorities. Dr. Noh's research made significant contributions to theoretical and methodological literatures in immigrant and minority health, including cultural sensitivities in assessing social stress, social and psychological resources, socioeconomic contexts, and mental health in marginalized immigrant populations. Given that each year, over 70,000 new immigrants and refugees settle in Toronto, research must address issues relevant to the well-being of new Canadians, particularly new immigrants and refugees of non-European origins who suffer disproportionately from poverty, chronic unemployment or underemployment, poor neighborhoods, and community deprivation. Most recently, Dr. Noh and his colleagues have been concentrating on the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms and psychological distress. They have demonstrated that the use of diverse coping strategies is partially shaped by cultural values, and that the efficacy of coping strategies are further moderated by current cultural and social contexts in Canada. 

David Reville
As a young man, David Reville spent two years in mental hospitals. That experience has shaped his life and informed his work. The 70s were a decade of community action for David. He began to build an international reputation as an advocate for reforms to the mental health system. Locally, he was a founder of several ground-breaking community organizations including On Our Own, a self-help group of psychiatric survivors and Neighbourhood Legal Services, the first storefront law office of its type in Ontario. In the 80s, David took his activism into politics. He served two terms on Toronto City Council and two terms in the Ontario Legislature as M.P.P. for Riverdale (now Toronto Danforth).

Between l990 and l994, David served as Special Advisor to the Premier of Ontario. David was the first (and only) chair of the Ontario Advocacy Commission. The Commission's mandate was to develop and deliver advocacy services for vulnerable people.

He has written and co-written numerous articles. The journal he kept while in hospital has been published widely. He is a sought-after speaker, nationally and internationally. David's public service has been recognized twice by the Canadian Mental Health Association (1982, 1990), by the Advocacy Resource Centre for the Handicapped (l990) and by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (2001). He was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal for his work in mental health. Today, David is a principal in David Reville & Associates which does social research and community development. He teaches courses on mad people's history at Ryerson University.

Chekkera Shammi
Dr. Shammi is with the Schizophrenia Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, College Street site and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. He has over 20 years of clinical experience in psychiatry. He is Chief of the Early Psychosis Unit and also works in the Medication Assessment Program for Schizophrenia. He is primarily a clinician and educator and also has an interest in clinical research. He did his medical training, as well as his psychiatric training in India, and was at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), before moving to Ireland and later Canada. As part of the CAMH collaborative agreement with NIMHANS he has been fortunate to have the opportunity of going as a visiting professor to the centre he trained at. He has won awards for excellence in teaching. He is presently in the process of a return to school at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, and considers himself a lifelong student. 

Scott Simmie
Scott Simmie is a feature writer with the Toronto Star with extensive experience writing about mental health. In 1997, Scott received the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy and spent a year researching mental health systems in Canada. His 1998 series Out of Mind was critically acclaimed and won several awards. He's co-author of The Last Taboo: A Survival Guide to Mental Health Care in Canada and Beyond Crazy: Journeys Through Mental Illness. Scott has lived and worked in London, Moscow and Beijing.

Wayne Skinner, MSW, RSW
Wayne Skinner is Deputy Clinical Director, Addictions Programs, at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, where he oversees problem gambling initiatives and leads the Concurrent Disorders Capacity-Building team. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. He also directs the Addiction Studies Program in Continuing Education at the U of T's St Michael's College and teaches in the School of Social Work at York University. He worked at the Addiction Research Foundation for over twenty years as a clinician, program director, consultant, research collaborator and educator. Since 1996 he has played lead role in concurrent disorders, directing the development of the Concurrent Disorders Service at CAMH. He is currently involved in research on supporting families affected by concurrent disorders, along with collaborations on treating anger and addiction, telecounselling for problem gamblers, and recovery processes through mutual aid fellowship and peer support. He has edited a book, Treating Concurrent Disorders: A Guide For Counsellors, which was published in 2005.

Maureen Taylor
Maureen Taylor has been a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years.  She has reported exclusively on health issues for the last 8 years. As the CBC's National Health/Medical reporter, Maureen's items appear on Newsworld, Canada Now and The National.  Maureen is a Gemini Award nominee, and has received fellowships from the Knight Science Journalism Foundation, the New York Times, and the National Institutes of Health.

John Trainor
John Trainor has extensive experience in hospital and community based mental health services. As Director of the Community Support and Research Unit at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, he is responsible for innovative programs in direct service, advocacy, community development, and research. Mr. Trainor is a former chair of the editorial board of the journal Canada's Mental Health and is currently an associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health. He is chair of the Mental Health Services Workgroup at the national office of the Canadian Mental Health Association and lead author of the Association's core policy papers on people with serious mental illness. From 1996 to the present Mr. Trainor served as Director and co-director of 5 international development projects in the Baltic region of northern Europe. He has also played a leading role in projects in Sri Lanka and Brazil.

Dr. Franco J. Vaccarino
Dr. Franco J. Vaccarino is a Full Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Toronto. He is also Head of the Neuroscience Program at the Department of Psychiatry, and will become Chair, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto beginning July 1, 2005. Until April 2005, he was the Executive Vice-President, Programs and prior to this role, the Vice President, Research, at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). His interdisciplinary research accomplishments in the areas of neuroscience, addiction, mood and anxiety systems have been recognized internationally, and he is the Principal Editor of the recently published WHO report on the Neuroscience of Addiction, the first report of its kind published by the WHO. Dr. Vaccarino is recognized both locally and globally at the highest levels, as a world leader in his field.

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