Sakina Rizvi

Dr. Sakina Rizvi is the Chair of the Arthur Sommer Rotenberg (ASR) Suicide and Depression Studies Program at the University of Toronto at St. Michael’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on understanding the neurobiology underlying suicide risk and treatment-resistant depression through advanced neuroimaging techniques like fMRI and PET. In addition to her neuroimaging work, Dr. Rizvi develops and evaluates novel psychotherapies for suicide prevention, depression, and trauma resilience with the aim of translating these therapies for use in hospital and community settings. She is also deeply engaged in participant-centered research, collaborating with persons with lived experience of suicide risk and national partners to develop effective suicide prevention strategies involving caregivers. Her advocacy extends to mental health education, often using the creative arts to raise awareness. She led the Storybook Project, a lived experience short story collection on the impact of suicide published in September 2021 as “What it Takes to Make it Through: Stories of Suicide Loss and Resilience”.

Research Synopsis

Dr. Rizvi has experience across the areas of neuroimaging, neuropsychology, psychotherapy, pharmacology, and scale development; with a focus on Major Depressive Disorder. Her research is focused on identifying biological and behavioural risk factors for suicide and treatment resistant depression. Within these domains she is also conducting research focused on identifying novel therapeutic strategies and using neuroimaging (PET, fMRI, MRS) to predict treatment outcomes.