Program

Dr. Leslie Buckley

Dr. Leslie Buckley is chief of the Addictions Division at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. She is an addiction psychiatrist and specializes in providing outpatient treatment for substance use disorders. She has a special interest in health system innovation in addiction treatment and creating collaborations to enhance care for people seeking help with substance use. Areas of specialized focus include women’s health, working with Children's Aid and virtual care interventions. Dr. Buckley is also an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, with longstanding involvement in addiction education for medical students and residents. She has a keen interest in advocacy in medicine and health promotion with respect to substance use.

Dr. Marlon Danilewitz

Dr. Marlon Danilewitz is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, department of psychiatry and the associate medical director of general psychiatry at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. He works clinically as a general psychiatrist and also has expertise in concurrent disorder and occupational psychiatry.

He is the conference co-chair for the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting and co-chair of the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s section on addiction psychiatry. Dr. Danilewitz completed his psychiatry residency and fellowship in addiction medicine at the University of British Columbia.

He is a clinical researcher with a special focus on concurrent disorders. He has published over 50 peer reviewed articles to date. He is a dynamic and highly sought after speaker.  He is the recipient of multiple local, and national awards for his research, leadership and teaching.

Dr. Tony George

Dr. George is Professor of Psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto (UofT), and Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He joined the Yale Psychiatry faculty in 1998, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004. In 2006, he moved to UofT and CAMH as the inaugural Chair in Addiction Psychiatry, which he held until 2012. He has held several leadership positions, including as Chief of Schizophrenia (2008-16) and Addictions (2016-19) Divisions and Medical Director of the Complex Mental Illness Program (2012-16) at CAMH, and Co-Director of the Brain and Therapeutics Division in the UofT Department of Psychiatry (2006-2018). Dr. George’s research focuses on understanding and treating substance use disorders in people with serious mental illness. He has published over 360 peer-reviewed articles, reviews and other reports. His work has been funded by NIDA and CIHR since 1999. From 2021-2023, he served as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee at the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA). He wrote the chapter on Nicotine and Tobacco in Cecil Textbook of Medicine in the last four editions (2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023). He is Co-Principal Editor for Neuropsychopharmacology (NPP), an official journal of The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP).

Dr. Reinhard Michael Krausz

Dr. Michael Krausz is originally from Hamburg, Germany, where he was trained at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf as a registered nurse. Following this he completed a residency in Adult Psychiatry and his Doctor of Philosophy, where he examined the associations between psychosis and addictions. In the mid 1990s, he became a founding director of the Centre of Interdisciplinary Addiction Research at the University of Hamburg and retained directorship at the centre until 2004. As a founding director, he was responsible for the German Heroin Trial, the European Cocaine Project, and several other notable addiction-related trials. He also served as Editor-In-Chief of two well-established European scientific journals; Suchttherapie and European Addiction Research.

Dr. Krausz is a founding member of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM), a Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse (CCSA) and the e-Mental Health Steering Committee for the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), and is Section Chair of the Informatics and Telecommunications in Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry Sections of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and Co-Chiar of the Public Policy and Psychiatry Section, WPA.

Dr. Krausz relocated permanently to Vancouver, Canada in 2007, and from 2009-2012 he was the Medical Director of the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction with Vancouver Coastal Health. Currently, he is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia (UBC), the Providence Health Care/UBC Leading Edge Endowment Fund (LEEF) B.C. Leadership Chair in Addiction Research, and a Founding Fellow of the UBC Institute of Mental Health.

As a Senior Scientist at the Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences (CHÉOS) and head of the Addictions and Concurrent Disorders Group at CHÉOS, Dr. Krausz’s research explores the relationship between early life trauma, substance use disorders, and other mental illnesses. His research includes the At Home/Chez Soi Study, the B.C. Health of the Homeless Survey, and the Study to Assess Long-Term Opioid Maintenance Effectiveness (SALOME).

More recently, Dr. Krausz has extended his expertise to include e-mental health. The Bell Youth Mental Health IMPACT Project (2012) was Dr. Krausz’s first endeavour in this area. Bell Canada’s philanthropic support in the amount of $1 million as part of their Let’s Talk Initiative was critical seed funding in the development of a new mental health platform, WalkAlong.ca, designed to provide youth who are experiencing depression and anxiety with resources to help foster mental wellness. In 2014, he was recognized for his tireless research and advocacy related to substance use, mental health, and housing security with the City of Vancouver’s Healthy City for All Award of Excellence.
 

Dr. Nick Mathew

Dr. Nick Mathew completed an addiction psychiatry fellowship at Yale University and a forensic psychiatry fellowship at the University of British Columbia. He is board certified in addiction psychiatry, addiction medicine and forensic psychiatry. He is a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia and has won awards for teaching and research. He is currently serving as the medical director of complex mental health and substance use services at the Provincial Health Services Authority.

Dr. Valerie Primeau

Valerie Primeau, MD, FRCPC, is a bilingual psychiatrist practicing in North Bay, Ontario. Passionate about quality improvement, leadership, and advocacy, she currently serves as the Medical Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Head of Service for Community Mental Health and Addictions at North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC). Dr. Primeau has played a key role in the treatment of concurrent disorders, including leading NBRHC’s implementation of medically-supervised withdrawal management. She also led the rural implementation of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Integrated Care Pathway for treating alcohol use disorder and depression.

Dedicated to serving vulnerable populations, Dr. Primeau is the physician lead for the Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) clinic and the Early Psychosis Intervention (EPI) program. She contributed to the Ontario Health EPI Task Group and participated in the EPI-SET research project with CAMH, which aimed to expand the NAVIGATE evidence-based treatment model for EPI across Ontario. She was the recipient of the NOAMA Clinical Innovation Opportunities Funding for a research project on Substance use stigma among first responders and emergency department staff.

A committed advocate for medical education, Dr. Primeau has presented at numerous provincial and national conferences. She has served on the Ontario Health Alcohol Use Disorder Quality Standard Advisory Committee and was the Clinical Lead for the Withdrawal Management Standards with Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (AMHO). She is an active member of the Executive Committee of the Ontario Psychiatric Association (OPA), the Policy Committee of the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM), and the Section of Addiction Psychiatry at the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA). Recently, she became a founding board member and treasurer of the Canadian Academy for Addiction Psychiatry (CAAP).

Dr. Vijay Seethapathy

Dr. Vijay Seethapathy is a Clinical Associate Professor and Oversight Director for the Addiction Psychiatry Training Program at the University of British Columbia. As the Chief Medical Officer at BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services (BCMHSUS), Dr. Seethapathy provides strategic and operational oversight for Forensic Psychiatry Services, Complex Concurrent Disorder Services, Correctional Health Services, and provincial specialized mental health and substance use programs. Dr. Seethapathy holds a Membership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK), is a Psychiatry Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and is certified in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Addiction Medicine. He has extensive clinical expertise in the assessment and management of complex concurrent disorders, early psychosis intervention, and correctional psychiatry. 

In addition to his medical qualifications, Dr. Seethapathy has completed advanced business and leadership training, including the Physician Leadership Program at the UBC Sauder School of Business and an Executive MBA in Healthcare from the UK. With over 20 years of senior leadership experience in healthcare across the UK and Canada, he has successfully led transformative service delivery and system innovations. Under his leadership, BCMHSUS was awarded “Accreditation with Exemplary Standing.” Dr. Seethapathy has pioneered several groundbreaking initiatives to address gaps in mental health and substance use services. These include: 

Establishing the 24/7 Access and Assessment Centre for mental health crisis care.
Founding the award-winning Assertive Outreach Team in Vancouver.
Leading the development of the Enhanced Care Unit at the Redfish Centre for Mental Health and Addiction to support clients with complex concurrent disorders.
Creating the Enhanced Secure Care Unit, addressing critical gaps in the civil forensic continuum.
Developing the first Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) team in Western Canada.
Developing the first MH designated in patient unit with in Provincial Correctional facility. 

A passionate advocate for medical education, Dr. Seethapathy founded the Annual BC Concurrent Disorders Conference and is a founding Director of the Canadian Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (CAAP). He is a frequent contributor to regional and national committees, providing expert guidance on policy development and program initiatives to transform care delivery. He also engages with the public through various media outlets. Dr. Seethapathy is actively involved in professional leadership, serving on the Boards of the Canadian Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, BC Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Psychiatric Association, where he is the current President. His contributions have been recognized with the “Lifetime Community Service Award” from the BC Psychiatric Association, awarded by his peers. Dr. Seethapathy is committed to driving system transformation through innovation, best practices, and a strong focus on learning. His work continues to make a lasting impact on mental health and substance use system of care. 

Dr. Rob Tanguay

Dr. Tanguay is a psychiatrist who completed two fellowships, one in Addiction Medicine and Pain Medicine. He is a clinical assistant professor with the departments of Psychiatry and Surgery at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. Dr. Tanguay is the Senior Medical Lead for the Compassionate Intervention division of Recovery Alberta. He is the co-founder and co-developer of the Community Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) clinic for Recovery Alberta where he works clinically. 

Dr. Tanguay is a member of the Calgary Police Commission, legislated to manage the annual budget (~$600 million) as well as to establish policies providing for efficient and effective policing. He is the Co-Chair of the Western Canadian Addiction Forum and Chair of the Canadian Addiction Counsel. He is a founding director of the Canadian Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and Co-Chair of the conference. Dr. Tanguay has been heavily involved in health policy including helping to lead the Alberta Psychedelic Legislative Committee and the Alberta Safe Supply Legislative Committee.  He was a member of the Alberta Recovery Expert Advisory Panel directly advising the Alberta Minister of Addiction and Mental Health. He was a member of the Public Health Emergencies Governance Review Panel for the Government of Alberta and was a member of the Supervised Consumption Review Committee. 

Dr. Tanguay has been recognized for his work and is the 2021 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada recipient of the Early Career Leadership Award, was inducted into the University of Lethbridge Alumni Honour Society, is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, and is a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal. 

Dr. Tanguay has presented over 150 invited, plenary, and keynote lectures on three continents speaking on policy, addiction, pain, and mental health. He has received $9,327,494 in operational and research grants. Academically, he is involved in research in trauma, addiction, chronic pain, opioids, cannabis, and psychedelics and is a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Phil Tibbo 

Dr. Tibbo is a Professor of Psychiatry and the Dr. Paul Janssen Chair in Psychotic Disorder at Dalhousie University, Halifax NS. He is also the Director of Research for the Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University and President of the Canadian Consortium for Early Intervention in Psychosis (CCEIP).  Dr. Tibbo’s research include studies of individuals at the early phase of, and individuals at risk for, a psychotic illness. He is a recipient of the Michael Smith Award from the SSC, the 2017 CAMIMH Champion of Mental Health Research/Clinician award and the 2018 RCPSC Specialist of the Year (Region 5). 

Moderators

Dr. Angela Ho

Dr Angela Ho is a psychiatrist in Toronto working on a case management team for marginally-housed individuals with psychotic, substance use and trauma disorders. She also has a part-time practice focused on family/couples therapy. Dr. Ho is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. She was President of the Ontario Psychiatric Association 2022-2024 and is Co-Chair of the OPA Education Committee. She previously served on the Ontario Medical Association Priority & Leadership Group and OMA Section on Psychiatry Executive. She formerly sat on the Board of Directors for Inner City Health Associates. 

Dr. Karen Shin

Dr. Karen Shin is the current Chair of the Ontario Psychiatric Association (OPA). In her clinical and professional role, she is Chief of Psychiatry at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto and Associate Professor at University of Toronto (UofT) . Dr. Shin is on the Schizophrenia and Psychosis Advisory Table and the Toronto Region Coordinated Access Engagement Table for Ontario Health's Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence. As co-lead of the Mental Health and Law Reform Task Force of the OPA, she has published and presented on issues related to legislative reform for hospital-based mental health care. Her clinical focus is in adult general psychiatry, with experience in inpatient, outpatient and community outreach psychiatry. One of her areas of special interest is in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and she continues to be actively involved in training learners in the UofT Department of Psychiatry residency program.