4th Annual national divert meeting – Meet our speakers!

Dr. Pillai Riddell is the Tier 1 York Research Chair in Pain and Mental Health and Director of the Opportunities to Understand Childhood Hurt Laboratory (OUCH Lab) in the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is also a registered clinical psychologist, licensed to work with children and adults in clinical and health psychology. As both a basic-behavioural scientist and a clinician-scientist, Dr. Pillai Riddell currently leads a multi-national, multi-million-dollar research program that studies preterm infants and their parents in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Her research programs ultimately seek to advance a transdimensional understanding of infant pain (cortical, cardiac, behavioural, and social) and support applications of this understanding for real clinical practice. Her research is funded by all three national Canadian research councils (Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council). She has also been involved extensively in supporting EDI initiatives in research contexts at both the institutional and federal levels. She is the founding director of the POLARIS training collaboration to teach academics how to adjudicate faculty for awards and jobs inclusively and is the Nominated Principal Investigator for DIVERT Mental Health.

Beverly Keeshig-Soonias is anishinaabekwe. Her community of origin is Neyaashiinigmiing. She is a registered psychologist in Alberta. She has a Law Degree from the University of Saskatchewan and a Master’s Degree in Family Therapy from Loma Linda University. Indigenous principles, with kindness and humour, are her gifts when serving Indigenous children, adolescents, and families.

Beverly is currently serving as an elder with the Indigenous Peoples Section of the Canadian Psychological Association.

Dr. Christopher Mushquash is a registered clinical psychologist (Ontario), Full Professor in the Department of Psychology at Lakehead University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University, Clinical Psychologist at Dilico Anishinabek Family Care, Vice President Research at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, and Chief Scientist and Chief Operating Officer at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute. He is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction, with expertise in rural and northern clinical practice and the development of culturally appropriate interventions for mental health and addiction difficulties in First Nations children, adolescents, and adults. He is Anishinawbe (Ojibway) and a member of Pawgwasheeng (Pays Plat First Nation).

Dr. Mushquash has published more than 125 peer-reviewed articles, as well as 7 peer-reviewed book chapters, and 68 other reports, letters, and non-peer-reviewed publications. His research involves large team collaborations and partnerships with multiple research stakeholders, including community-based, government, and academic partners. He  has collaborated on  projects with $65 million of funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). His research brings together mainstream and Indigenous methods, and he is a generous volunteer who frequently meets with First Nations communities, organizations, and students to discuss mental health and addiction. As a frequently invited speaker locally and nationally, he has given 345 presentations and workshops to a wide variety of groups in areas of Indigenous mental health and addiction

Dr. Gina Dimitropoulos, PhD, MSW, RSW, FAED is a Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary and is cross-appointed with the Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics. She holds the inaugural UCalgary Research Excellence Chair in System-Level Interventions for Equitable & Accessible Youth Mental Health Services and is a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists at the Royal Society of Canada. She is an award-winning clinician, researcher, and educator who is internationally renowned for her innovative research in Integrated Youth Services (IYS), transitions in care, eating disorders, peer support, and youth mental health system transformation.

Maureen is a Cree/Métis doctoral candidate, born and raised in a small Cree/Métis community in Alberta. She is in the Counselling Psychology program at the University of Alberta, and her primary research focuses on eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image among Indigenous women. She completed her Bachelor of Arts (honours in psychology) at MacEwan University and her Master of Science in counselling psychology at the University of Calgary. Her Master’s work explored Indigenous therapists’ perspectives on eating disorders. Her doctoral work explores the facilitators of healing and barriers that Cree and Métis women and girls experienced with eating disorders and disordered eating. She has been involved in projects involving emerging adults with eating disorders, including care transition and policy research on eating disorders, and has worked extensively with a local non-profit organization in community participatory research.

Dr. Shelley L. Craig (Project Director) is the Canada Research Chair for Sexual and Gender Minority Youth and a Full Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. She is a visiting professor at Nottingham Trent University.

Dr. Craig has over twenty years of community-based leadership, practice and research with sexual and gender minority and marginalized populations. As a registered and licensed clinical social worker, Dr. Craig is particularly adept at creating, delivering and evaluating affirmative practice and effective services to individuals, groups and communities. Selected experiences include: Founder/ Executive Director of the Alliance for LGBTQ Youth, Executive Director of ALSO for Out Youth; Medical/health social worker in the emergency care center of a community hospital; Program Director, residential services (shelter for victims of domestic violence) at Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center.

Dr. Craig’s research has been funded by federal organizations such as SSHRC and CIHR. Her most recent studies have been designed to: (1) create and test community-based interventions (AFFIRM) to improve mental health and coping of SGMY; (2) understand the impact of information and communication technologies (CTs) on the resilience of SGMY (#ProjectQueery); and (3) use of simulation to enhance the competency of health social work students.

Dr. Patricia Lingley-Pottie is co-founder of the Strongest Families Institute (SFI) and SFI’s proprietary digital health platform, IRIS. She is President and CEO of SFI, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University and a Scientist at the IWK Health Centre. Dr. Pottie has more than 30 years of pediatric nursing experience with expertise in research methods, scale development and the conduct of randomized clinical trials. The past 20 years have been focused on psychological research, specifically harnessing the advantages of technology to deliver accessible and timely distance, evidence-based interventions to children, youth, adults and families. Dr. Pottie has published 32 articles and editorials. As the leader of SFI and IRIS, Dr. Pottie has scaled SFI services successfully within Canada and in some regions internationally. She is the recipient of the Digital Health Canada 2020 Women Leaders In Digital Health Award, CAMIMH (Champions of Mental Health Award) 2019, Atlantic Canada Top 50 CEO 2018, and the co-recipient of the 2017 Governor General Innovation Award of Canada and the 2013 Ernest C. Manning Principal Encana Award for Social Innovation. Under her leadership, Strongest Families Institute has also received the 2012 Mental Health Commission of Canada Award for Social Innovation.

Dr. Doan’s research program comprises projects evaluating pediatric emergency department patterns of use, the quality of the care provided, and the efficiency of service delivery. She aims to answer questions pertaining to the population’s need for pediatric emergency care, how well the health-care system is equipped to meet this need, and how we can maintain or improve the quality and value of the care provided to children and families seeking help in emergency settings.

As a member of Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC), Dr. Doan is the BC Children’s site investigator for many PERC multi-center studies. She is also the PERC representative.

Maureen Abbott is a Master’s-educated Director and Certified Health Executive (Canadian College of Health Leaders) with the Innovation team at the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). Her work focuses on policy, research, and e-mental health. She bridges people, systems, and technology to develop and implement evidence-informed tools, resources and strategies to improve mental health and substance use health outcomes across Canada. Maureen works closely with the lived experience councils at the MHCC and is the Chair of the MHCC’s E-Mental Health Collaborative. Maureen has extensive experience with the not-for-profit health sector and has a background in standards and accreditation. Maureen led the development of national and international networks and is experienced with operations, strategic planning, and quality improvement. Maureen is a CHIEF Executive member with Digital Health Canada.

Michael Cooper is an experienced charity executive with over 16 years of experience in fund development, project management and government relations. He began his career working with senior political leaders in Ottawa before transitioning into the charitable world, which led to successful roles at Futurepreneur, Operation Springboard, The Learning Partnership, Omega Foundation and Diabetes Canada. He spent several years working in management consulting; at one firm, he led numerous projects involving First Nations communities across Canada. 

Michael advocates for improving our understanding in detecting, treating and managing mental health issues. He has a strong focus on the utilization of data to inform policy and advance mental health care in Canada and currently oversees MHRC’s large-scale data project tracking the ongoing mental health of Canadians.

Dr. Amy Porath (PhD, CHE) is the Director of Research and Knowledge Mobilization. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa and as an Investigator at the CHEO Research Institute. 

An alumna of the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, Amy is an internationally recognized expert in substance use health research and knowledge mobilization. With more than 22 years of experience, government officials, NGOs, top-tier media, and communities regularly seek her expertise. Her strategic leadership in providing evidence to help Canadians make informed decisions about cannabis earned her a spot on Canada’s Top 100 Health Influencers list in 2019 and 2020. Committed to advancing high-quality care, Amy advises on system transformation across child and youth mental health, addictions, and substance use health services.

Emma Duerden, PhD, is a Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Learning Disorders. She is an Assistant Professor in Applied Psychology in the Faculty of Education and a member of the Brain & Mind Institute at Western University, Canada. She is also a Scientist in the Maternal, Fetal and Newborn Health Division at the Children’s Health Research Institute.

Her research program focuses on the impact of early adversity on cognitive ability starting early in fetal life as well as infants and school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder or who are born very preterm. The goal of her research program is to identify risk factors for early adversity as well as factors that promote resilience to early life stress, healthy brain development and academic achievement in children.

Jacquie is a Health Promotion and Health Literacy Specialist with the BC Children’s Hospital Health Bridge Program. Jacquie completed their doctoral studies in Human Development, Learning and Culture at UBC, where they conducted program evaluation and implementation research with Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl for more than a decade. 

Jay Shaw is the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Responsible Health Innovation and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at University of Toronto. He serves as Research Director of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Ethics & Health at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, an appointment in the Department of Physical Therapy, and is adjunct Scientist at the Women’s College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care. He practiced as a physical therapist in community-based care prior to completing his PhD in 2012.

Dr. Shaw is a health systems researcher who studies how and why innovations are adopted (or rejected) in health care policy and practice. His research spans a range of innovations, focusing primarily on virtual care technologies and new models of integrated care. Dr. Shaw is an interdisciplinary researcher, drawing on theories and methods from Science and Technology Studies as well as Organization Studies. He has expertise in the phenomenology of practice, and has written on a variety of philosophical and methodological orientations to health and health care.

Dr. Shaw’s research has been supported by doctoral research awards and postdoctoral fellowships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and he collaborates with researchers in Spain, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and across Canada.