Medical Leadership Team

Sagar Parikh, MD, FRCP(C) is Mensante’s Medical Director. He is Deputy Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the University Health Network Toronto, and director of Continuing Mental Health Education at the University of Toronto, where he also serves as Professor of Psychiatry. He was formerly Deputy Clinical Director of Mood and Anxiety Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Clarke Institute), where he headed the Bipolar Clinic and where he continues as Director of CME. He is the author or editor of two books and over ninety peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. His research includes clinical studies in mood disorders, genetics, biochemical psychiatry, education research, and health services research. A prolific speaker, he has presented at over 400 CME events and been the course director for over 100 programs. His teaching has won him local and international awards for excellence, particularly in mental health for primary caregivers.

Tim Bilkey, MD, FRCP(C) is a psychiatrist specializing in ADHD in adolescents and adults. He is Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario and serves as Adjunct Mentor for the Ontario College of Family Physicians Collaborative Mental Health Project. He was the 2008 Content Chair for the CPA Collaborative Forums in Mental Health. Dr. Bilkey has completed a medical documentary on ADHD and has developed an educational program for primary care physicians accredited through the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

William Gnam M.Sc., MD, Ph.D., FRCP(C) is a psychiatrist and a Harvard-trained health economist. He is currently a Research Associate at the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto where he specializes in the economics of mental disorders, analyzing the costs of health care delivery, worker productivity losses and associated societal costs. He has published over 11 articles and is a Rhodes Scholar.

Sidney Kennedy, M.Sc, MD, Ph.D., FRCP(C) is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the University Health Network, Toronto, President of the Canadian College of Neuropsycho-pharmacology, and a founding member and executive chair of the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT), the policy setting body of Canadian Psychiatry. He has authored and co-authored over 175 peer-reviewed articles, written nine books, and contributed over 40 separate chapters in various medical books and textbooks. He sits on many domestic and international psychiatric boards and has received several prestigious awards.

Mark H. Pollack, M.D., Ph.D. is Director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has published over 300 articles, reviews and book chapters. He serves on the the Scientific Advisory Board of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, and the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Institute of the Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as other advisory and editorial boards. His areas of clinical and research interest include the acute and long-term course, pathophysiology and treatment of patients with anxiety disorders including panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder and associated comorbidities, development of novel pharmacologic agents for mood and anxiety disorders, uses of combined cognitive-behavioral and pharmacologic therapies for treatment refractory patients, presentation and treatment of anxiety in the medical setting, and the pathophysiology and treatment of substance abuse.

Zindel V. Segal, M.A., Ph.D. is the Cameron Wilson Chair in Depression Studies and Head of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He is also Head of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Unit at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Segal has studied and published widely on psychological treatments for depression for more than 25 years. Dr. Segal's publications include Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, and The Mindful Way Through Depression, a patient guide that outlines this approach.

Richard Swinson, B.A., M.D., FRCPC, FRC Psych, DPM is currently Medical Director of the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. His clinical practice is focused upon anxiety and related disorders with an emphasis on OCD and related disorders. He has published approximately 200 peer reviewed papers, 10 books, and 40 chapters mainly on the subjects of anxiety disorders and substance dependence. His current research activity is funded by Canadian Fund for Innovation, Ontario Research Development Fund and Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Advanced Neuromodulation Services, Texas. He is the lead author on the Canadian Anxiety Disorders Guidelines (2006).

Michael E. Thase, MD is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and is Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is a world recognized expert in both the psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy of mood disorders and has been a senior advisor to CANMAT. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, and been elected to the membership of the American College of Psychiatrists and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Dr. Thase has authored 13 books and authored or co-authored over 600 scientific articles and book chapters.