Our faculty members frequently make appearances in the media as expert consultants or authors. This article summarizes the faculty media appearances that were featured in our Department newsletter in January 2024.
Global News January 22, 2024. Featuring Dr. Sonu Gaind.
Dr. Sonu Gaind opposes the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to include mental illness as the sole reason, citing a lack of safeguards to protect vulnerable individuals.
STAT News. January 18, 2024. Featuring Dr. Daisy Singla.
Dr. Singla advocates for the scalability of lay counselor effectiveness in mental health care, emphasizing their potential to address the vast unmet need for mental health services through evidence-based interventions and training.
CBC News January 16, 2024. Featuring Dr. Robert Levitan.
Dr. Levitan emphasizes that the lack of daylight in winter can disrupt sleep-wake cycles, mood, and appetite, potentially leading to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or winter blues, affecting a significant portion of the population.
Global News. January 12, 2024. Featuring Dr. Sonu Gaind.
Dr. Gaind opposes the expansion of MAiD for mental illness due to the lack of safeguards for vulnerable individuals, asking the Canadian government to delay the implementation beyond the March 2024 deadline.
CityNews Toronto. January 12, 2024. Featuring Dr. Michael Mak.
Dr. Mak describes Blue Monday as a marketing concept with no scientific basis, but acknowledges the winter months can affect mood due to decreased sunlight, advising exposure to bright light as a remedy for seasonal blues.
Global News. January 11, 2024. Featuring Dr. Roger McIntyre.
Dr. McIntyre highlights the association between depressive symptoms and obesity, suggesting that socio-economic, psychological, and neurobiological factors contribute to this link, with implications for both the understanding and treatment of these conditions.
The Toronto Star. January 5, 2024. Featuring Dr. Sonu Gaind.
Dr. Gaind criticizes the expansion of medically assisted dying to include mental illness as decided by the Senate without comprehensive legislative debate, emphasizing the need for autonomy and self-determination to be considered carefully, especially for vulnerable populations.
U of T News. January 5, 2024. Featuring Dr. Anne Bassett, Dr. Bruce G. Pollock, and Dr. Arun Ravindran.
On December 28, 2023, Dr. Pollock, Dr. Bassett, and Dr. Ravindran were inducted into the Order of Canada, recognizing their significant contributions as researchers, innovators, and educators in their respective fields.
CBC News. January 5, 2024. Featuring Dr. Michael Mak.
Dr. Mak explains that the prevalence of winter blues in Canada is not due to the absence of snow, but rather the reduced exposure to sunlight, which significantly impacts mood, suggesting bright light therapy as a potential remedy.
U of T Defy Gravity Campaign. January 3, 2024. Featuring Dr. Sarah Levitt and Dr. Sara Mitchell.
Dr. Mitchell leads the Azrieli Brain Medicine Fellowship Program, aimed at breaking down educational and practice siloes in medicine to provide holistic care for patients with complex brain disorders by training practitioners in an integrated approach to brain health.
CBC News. January 3, 2024. Featuring Dr. Robert Levitan.
Dr. Levitan warns that the continued lack of sunlight this winter in Toronto, due to unusually mild and foggy weather, may exacerbate symptoms for those struggling with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), recommending regular use of bright, artificial light therapy as an effective treatment.
CityNews. January 3, 2024. Featuring Dr. Michael Mak.
Dr. Mak highlights the impact of prolonged overcast weather in Toronto on mood, emphasizing the importance of light exposure to combat seasonal blues and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), with a recommendation for using bright light therapy to improve mood during the darker winter months.
