Dr. Stephanie Ameis is a senior scientist and the Associate Director of the Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and is appointed to the Child and Youth Mental Health Collaborative at CAMH, the University of Toronto and SickKids.  She is also an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and is Director of the Department of Psychiatry’s Clinician Scientist Program.

One in five Canadians is affected annually by mood, anxiety or other neuropsychiatric disorders. The cost of these illnesses is $51 billion/yr. The most common trigger for the initiation and exacerbation of mental illnesses is an episode of stress. Dr. Jaideep Bains’ research examines how stress causes long-term changes in the brain at the cellular level. His goal is to uncover the biological rules that are altered by stress and understand how these changes impact behavior.

For the past 35 years, Dr. Pierre Blier has worked on the mechanisms of action of strategies, both psychotropic medications and neurostimulation approaches, aimed at treating mood and anxiety disorders more efficiently: get more patients better faster. To this aim, he has operated a fully integrated research program with a basic science laboratory using electrophysiological recordings of individual brain cells in animals and a clinical unit where patients are treated in his own research trials.

Dr. Dillon Browne, M.A., PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology (Clinical)
University of Waterloo

Canada Research Chair in Child and Family Psychology

Dr. Dillon Browne is a Canada Research Chair in Child and Family Clinical Psychology, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Browne also holds an Ontario Early Researcher Award from the Ministry of Colleges & Universities. He is the founder and principal investigator of the FamilyPsycle^® Institute and Laboratory, where he leads an international program of research designed to promote child and family mental health and well-being in the context of rapid technological innovation. Dr. Browne is also a registered clinical psychologist in Ontario, with competency in working with children, adolescents, and families. He provides family therapy and psychotherapy to clients across Ontario, and he is heavily involved in clinical training and supervision for the next generation of clinicians.

Dr. Allison Crawford, PhD

Chief Medical Officer, Talk Suicide Canada

Allison Crawford is the Chief Medical Officer for Talk Suicide Canada (www.talksuicide.ca) and 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline, the national suicide prevention service launching November 30, 2023. Allison is a psychiatrist and researcher at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, where she is also Medical Director of Virtual Mental Health and Psychiatry Outreach, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Allison also has a PhD in English Literature and brings the arts into health research. She founded HeART Lab, for health equity through art, research and technology and is Editor-in-Chief of Ars Medica, journal of medicine, the arts, and humanities. A key focus of Allison’s work is improving access and equity in mental health care, including research on suicide prevention, digital health, and partnering to support Indigenous and circumpolar health and well-being.

Dr. Jo Henderson PhD., CPsych. is a senior scientist and scientific director of the Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth and Family Mental Health at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Dr. Henderson is also Executive Director of Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Through all their roles, they are focused on working in partnership with youth, families and communities to create and implement new models of service delivery that support youth in achieving their optimal outcomes.

Dr. Daphne Korczak, MD, MSc, FRCPC (peds), FRCPC (psych)
SickKids Chair in Child and Youth Medical Psychiatry
Director, CLIMB Depression Program
Scientist, Neuroscience and Mental Health, Research Institute
                               Psychiatrist, Hospital for Sick Children
                               Associate Professor, University of Toronto

Dr. Daphne Korczak is the SickKids’ Chair in Child and Youth Medical Psychiatry, Director of the Children’s Integrated Mood and Body (CLIMB) Depression Program, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Associate Scientist at the SickKids Research Institute, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Her research activities focus on depression and suicide prevention among children and adolescents, and the association of adolescent-onset depression with premature cardiovascular disease. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Korczak has led a large collaborative initiative examining the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of children with and without pre-existing mental health conditions. 

Dr. Sarah Woods, PhD
Interim Associate Director, Operations
Scaling, Research & Development Unit
Child Development Institute

Dr. Sarah Woods, PhD, is the Interim Associate Director, Operations in the Scaling, Research and Development Unit at Child Development Institute, a children’s mental health agency in Toronto. As a Senior Researcher, Sarah supports the implementation of a comprehensive children’s mental health and crime prevention framework that includes referral mechanisms, risk/need assessments and evidence-based programs. Her focus areas include aggression and disruptive behaviours, family violence, youth justice and co-occurring learning disabilities and mental health disorders.