Speaker's Profile

Dr. Ian Dawe is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and a psychiatrist in the Mental Health Program at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, ON. Working in collaboration with Trillium’s senior leadership team, its service users and their families, as well as its medical and allied health professionals, he is focused on co-creating a new kind of addiction and mental health care – one that prioritizes personalization, coordination and enablement. Dr. Dawe completed medical school at Memorial University of Newfoundland and a residency in psychiatry, two years of fellowship training (Suicide Studies, Emergency Psychiatry, and Mental Health Systems Research), and a Masters degree in Health Administration, all at the University of Toronto. As an Fellow and an Investigator within Trillium Health Partners’ Institute for Better Health, his clinical and research areas of interest include recovery, tele-mental health and virtual care services, suicide and suicidal behaviors, quality and patient safety, health advocacy, and the design and evaluation of mental health delivery systems. He served as the Chair of the Ontario Hospital Association’s Suicide Prevention Standards Taskforce (2014-6,) a diverse panel of researchers, academics, clinicians and lived experience experts with a mandate from the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care to focus on establishing best practice, evidence based standards to guide the care for at-risk people in all of Ontario’s 151 hospitals. He has been called a “full scaler” and a “top influencer” as part of Zero Suicide International, a healthcare movement that believes no one should die alone and in despair. He has acted as principle or co-investigator in clinical trials and has authored numerous articles and reports on mental health care. He is a frequent invited lecturer with the Bell Let’s Talk campaign on topics including suicide prevention, mindfulness, interprofessional recovery-oriented care and workplace mental health and has presented his findings at a wide variety of provincial, national and international seminars, conferences and symposia. Formerly the Physician in Chief of Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (2011-2016,) Dr Dawe was the Mental Health and Addictions Physician Lead for the Central East Local Health Integration Network (2014-2016) providing expert advice to the CE-LHIN CEO and its Senior Directors on performance and improvement opportunities in mental health systems within Ontario. Dr Dawe was also the founding Medical Director of Toronto’s Emergency Mental Health and Addictions Alliance (2008-2011) and was the Medical Director of the Psychiatric Emergency Service at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto (2003-2011.) He was a Research Associate with both the Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St Michael’s Hospital and the Arthur Sommer Rotenberg Chair in Suicide Studies at the University of Toronto from 2003 through 2011. He is also the immediate past Chair (2012-2014) of Ontario’s Clinical Expert Committee on Autism. As a governor, he has previously sat as a member of the Boards of Directors of the Ontario Telemedicine Network, Peer Support Accreditation and Certification (Canada) and as an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors of both the Ontario Shores Foundation for Mental Health and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. As a systems consultant he has worked with many addiction and mental health organizations in Ontario helping improve integration, value and quality.