Virtual Conference: Joint Mental Health Research & Innovation Day

On behalf of:

•    Lawson Health Research Institute - Mental Health Group
•    St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care
•    Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care
•    Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University

Please join us for a free virtual event, "The Shifting Landscape of Mental Health Across the Lifespan." Keynote speakers, Dr. Daphne Korczak, SickKids Hospital, and Dr. Linda Mah, University of Toronto, will be exploring the impact of the pandemics on the mental health of youth and older adults. In addition to our keynote speakers, the day will include oral and poster presentations and symposia sessions on topics related to mental health care research and innovation.

This is a FREE Virtual event - register to attend

Agenda

9:00 – 9:45 am - Introduction and greeting
9:45 – 10:00 am - Welcome to the WHOVA System / Ice Breakers
10:00 – 10:45 am - Changing Childhood: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children’s Mental Health
10:45 –11:00 am - Question & Answer Period
11:00 am – 12:00 pm - Concurrent Session A
12:00 – 12:30 pm - Lunch and Virtual Poster Sessions Open
12:30 – 1:00 pm  - Interactive Virtual Poster Session
1:00 – 1:45 pm  - Older Adults and the Mental Health Effects of COVID-19 and Past Pandemics
1:45 – 2:00 pm  - Question & Answer Period
2:00 – 3:00 pm  - Concurrent Session B
3:00–3:15 pm - Closing Remarks
3:15–3:30 pm: Awards presentation

Keynote presenters

 
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 the relationship between early onset depression and future cardiometabolic risk, including obesity, and the mechanisms subserving this relationship. Her secondary area of research is in child and adolescent suicidality. Since COVID, Dr. Korczak has also been leading a large collaborative initiative examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children with and without pre-existing mental health conditions.

Dr. Korczak is the author of over 60 publications and book chapters and is a sought after speaker on the topics of depression and suicidality among children and adolescents for clinical and research audiences. She is the Chair of the Research and Scientific Committee for the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Chair of the Mental Health Task Force of the Canada Paediatric Society.

Dr. Linda Mah is a Senior Clinician Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and Associate Member of the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto. Dr. Mah completed her psychiatry residency at McGill University and obtained subspecialty training in clinical neuropsychiatry in the US, followed by research fellowships in cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging of mood disorders at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and a Master’s degree in Health Sciences from Duke University. For the last 3 years, she has served as a Mentor in the Diversity Mentorship Program in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Mah has served as a member of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, which provides scientific guidance to the Province of Ontario COVID-19 Health Coordination Table, and more recently was appointed Co-Chair of the Mental Health Working Group for the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.

Dr. Mah’s research focuses on advancing our understanding of the relationship between cognition and emotion healthy aging and in disorders of older adults, and applying this knowledge to improve diagnosis and treatment disorders associated with later life. She has published work on the role of emotion dysregulation and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression and anxiety as potential biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease an on the efficacy of neurostimulation approaches to treat neuropsychiatric and cognitive symptoms in older adult at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.