Ian Dawe
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 Physician-in-Chief at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores), Dr Dawe provides leadership for medical professional practice and champion the quality and safety of medical practice and care. Working in collaboration with the Ontario Shores’ senior leadership team, medical and allied health professionals, he is focused on advancing the quality of care and fostering interprofessional practice, in part by being actively engaged in clinical, patient care and academic activities, including participation in the centralized curriculum of the Postgraduate and Undergraduate programs in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He also provides supervision of onsite residents and fellows in Psychiatry at Ontario Shores.
As an ex-officio member of Ontario Shores’ Board of Directors, he serves as the Board’s principal advisor on matters of medical care. As Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), he is responsible for ensuring MAC fulfills its statutory duties such as advising the Board on credentialing of physicians; managing physician appointment and reappointment processes, and recommending policies, systems and processes.
Affiliations
Dr Dawe was the 2010-11 Mental Health Clinical Lead for the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network. As part of the TC-LHIN’s Clinical Services Leadership Team, he provided expert advice to the TC-LHIN CEO and its Senior Directors on performance and improvement opportunities in mental health systems within the Toronto region.
From 2007 through 2011, he was the Medical Director of Toronto’s Emergency Mental Health and Addictions Alliance. The Alliance is an innovative initiative involving seven Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network hospitals – The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH), St. Joseph’s Health Centre (SJHC), St. Michael’s Hospital (SMH), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC), Toronto East General Hospital (TEGH) and the University Health Network (UHN) – and the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry. Its goal is to provide integrated, comprehensive, best practice emergency addiction and mental health care to individuals experiencing acute mental health and addictions issues.
Research Synopsis
Dr. Ian Dawe is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and was the Head of the General Psychiatry Division, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto from 2003 though 2011. During those same years he was the Medical Director of the Psychiatric Emergency Service at St. Michael’s Hospital as well as a Research Associate with both the Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St Michael’s Hospital and the Arthur Sommer Rotenberg Chair in Suicide Studies at the University of Toronto.
His clinical and research areas of interest include emergency psychiatry, quality and patient safety, population health, health advocacy, and the design and evaluation of mental health delivery systems.