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Dr. Susan Abbey, MD FRCPC
President, 2008-2009 Dr. Susan Abbey specializes in consultation-liaison psychiatry—a branch of psychiatry concentrated on the interface of mind and body—with a particular focus on depression, quality of life and stress management with the medically ill and transplant patients and families. She is currently the Director of the Program in Medical Psychiatry and the Director of Psychosocial Services for the Multi-Organ Transplant Program at the University Health Network (UHN) where she works closely with transplant patients and their caregivers.
She enjoys the combination of medicine and psychiatry, the strong ethical component and the opportunity her work affords her to advocate for services for her patients. Her belief in and willingness to step forward on issues of social justice began in her early teens when she picketed and protested the plight of poor migrant workers. In her 20s she campaigned for housing for people with disabilities and helped establish Toronto’s Covenant House.
Dr. Abbey juggles a full practice with a strong commitment to organized psychiatry and has done so since psychiatric residency. She has served on both the CPA Board and the Ontario Psychiatric Association (OPA) Council, most recently as the 2005 OPA president where she continued to advocate for patient needs.
Not only does Dr. Abbey have a thriving clinical practice, she is also a researcher and educator. Her current research includes studies on living donor liver donations, depression and anxiety in people awaiting transplant and their caregivers, the role of meditation and yoga in managing hypertension, and how people adjust to heart transplants—psychologically, socially and philosophically. Her earlier research work focused on chronic fatigue syndrome.
Dr. Abbey is also a teacher of medical students and residents. “It’s an opportunity to get people to look at how they can be advocates for patients and how they can foster resilience in patients," she says. Dr. Abbey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and has won several awards recognizing her excellence as an educator.
Dr. Abbey is perhaps best known for her role in continuing medical education and her transformation of the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s (CPA) Annual Conference to the premier psychiatric event in Canada. She served as CPA Annual Meeting Program Committee Chair from 1998 to 2004 and was Chair of the CPA Continuing Professional Development Committee from 2002 to 2008. She is also a sought-after scientific speaker, particularly in the area of psychosomatic medicine.
To contact Dr. Abbey, ask for on-call media at 613-234-2815 or write to president@cpa-apc.org |
CPA Leader BiosPresident
Dr. Stanley Yaren
President-Elect
Dr. Nizar Ladha
Chairman of the Board
Dr. Donald Addington
Past President
Dr. Susan Abbey |
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September 02, 2010
