People at CAMH

CAMH Connexions

Fall 2006

Meet CAMH's Bioethicist

Dr. Barbara Russell became CAMH's bioethicist in April. She was the clinical ethicist at the University of Alberta, Stollery Children's Hospital, and the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton, as well as the Good Samaritan Society. She also held a cross-appointment as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University's John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre in Edmonton.

Dr. Russell relished the opportunity to come to CAMH to work in mental health and addictions, which she terms a "rich and complex field for an ethics specialist," and become part of CAMH's partnership with the University of Toronto's Joint Centre for Bioethics. Helping people examine and resolve serious or urgent ethical concerns in healthcare is important, but so is what she terms "everyday ethics and ethics everyday." In other words, helping staff be more aware of the sound ethical knowledge, skills and judgment reflected in their everyday practices and working with them on "preventive ethics."

Since bioethics has focused traditionally on acute care medicine in large tertiary care hospitals, Dr. Russell notes that CAMH's emphasis on linkages with community partners "affords new areas to understand and contribute to." She is also working with program leaders to implement a CAMH-tailored ethics "infrastructure" to expand our capacity, sustainability and accountabilities for ethical practices.

CAMH's own appointed to the Order of Canada

Dr. Mary Seeman, a member of CAMH's Schizophrenia Program, and Dr. Donald Meeks, a former executive at the Addiction Research Foundation (ARF), were appointed to the Order of Canada by Governor-General Michaëlle Jean this summer.

"This is a wonderful honour for these two outstanding individuals and richly deserved. On behalf of CAMH, I want to congratulate them both. We are very proud to be associated with these two very accomplished and dedicated professionals," said Dr. Paul Garfinkel, CAMH's CEO and President.

The first woman to occupy the Tapscott Chair of Schizophrenia Studies at the University of Toronto, Dr. Seeman is a pioneer in women's mental health and well-known for her work on schizophrenia in women.

Dr. Donald Meeks, a professor Emeritus of Social Work at the University of Toronto, has had a long-standing relationship with CAMH, beginning in 1965 at ARF, where he eventually started the School for Addiction Studies.

CAMH psychologist received Fire Marshal's Award for Excellence in Fire Safety

Dr. Joanna Henderson, a psychologist in the CAMH Youth Addiction Program, received the Fire Marshal's award at a ceremony held June 21, 2006, in recognition of her contributions to The Arson Prevention Program for Children (TAPP-C), an intervention and treatment program for juvenile fire-setters.

CAMH welcomes Dr. Gwenn Smith

Gwenn Smith, Ph.D. is now Senior Research Scientist at both CAMH and the Rotman Research Institute, and a Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Research for Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Her research has focused on methodology development and applications of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging to the study of monoamine function and regulation by other neurotransmitters in psychosis, Alzheimer's Disease and geriatric depression. Based at CAMH's PET Centre, her work overlaps with CAMH's Neuroscience Research program.