Dr. Susan Abbey is an academic psychiatrist affiliated with the Ajmera Transplant Centre and the UHN Mental Health Eating Disorder Program. She was previously the Program Medical Director for the University Health Network Centre for Mental Health, the Psychiatrist-in-Chief for the University Health Network and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Academically, Dr. Abbey’s research and clinical interests have been related to the psychiatric care of patients in the medical and surgical setting including the role of depression and anxiety in medical outcomes. Her research has focused on the psychiatric and psychosocial aspects of solid organ transplantation, end-organ failure and life-threatening illness, psychiatric sequelae of intensive care unit treatment and physician mental health. During the COVID pandemic, she has led the development of programs for health care worker resilience and mental health. She has taught and researched mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions for over 20 years and has trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to prevent depressive relapse.

Dr. Abbey has been active at a health systems level in advocating for improved mental health care for the medically ill and improved access to mental health care through her roles as President of the Ontario Psychiatric Association, President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association and President of the Canadian Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine. She is an award-winning educator.