Who we are
Program director
Yona Lunsky (PhD, C. Psych) is a clinical scientist in Dual Diagnosis Service at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, as well as an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). She has extensive experience conducting clinical and health systems research on health issues and developmental disabilities. Dr. Lunsky also is a co-author on the Canadian primary care and developmental disabilities consensus guidelines and has advised Ontario policy makers on developmental disability legislation, the dual diagnosis policy guidelines, and the standardized assessment of support needs for adults with developmental disabilities in Ontario.
Project leads
Robert Balogh (PhD, MHSc) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences. He completed postdoctoral Fellowships at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences with Dr. Yona Lunsky and Dr. Elizabeth Lin acting as supervisors. He has a Master's degree in epidemiology and is a registered physiotherapist. He is experienced in the use of large administrative databases to examine hospitalizations among persons with an intellectual disability. His research interests include primary care and health service models for persons with an intellectual disability. Dr. Balogh is co-leading the H-CARDD project on mental health and addiction.
Ian Casson (MD, CCFP, MSc) is a family physician with a general practice at Queen's Family Health Team in Kingston Ontario. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Queen's University and the Director of the Developmental Disabilities Enhanced Skills Program, an optional third year of training for Family Medicine residents at Queen's. He was the Chair of the Curriculum Working Group of the Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Initiative in Ontario and is a member of the Developmental Disabilities Program Committee of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He is the lead for the Family Health Team pilot programs, part of H-CARDD's primary care knowledge-to-action research.
Virginie Cobigo (PhD) is a Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa. She is also a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Educational and Community Services. She is particularly interested in measuring the success of services and supports in promoting social inclusion, choice and health equity. She has lead projects on medication use and cancer screening among adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Currently, she is a co-lead on the H-CARDD project on women's health, as well as a population-based intervention study to increase uptake of the periodic health exam by adults with IDD.
Janet Durbin (PhD) is a Scientist in the Provincial System Support Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and has appointments at the University of Toronto in the Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Her research is focused on planning and evaluation of mental health systems and services, and related performance measurement. Current projects pertain to implementation of the Early Psychosis Intervention Program Standards in Ontario, and high fidelity delivery of strengths based case management. She is co-lead on H-CARDD's knowledge-to-action research, evaluating practice change in primary and emergency care.
Barry Isaacs (PhD) is Director of Research, Evaluation and Education at Surrey Place Centre (Toronto), with a PhD in social psychology. His work focusses on community based research and evaluation of health and social services provided to persons with developmental disabilities, quality of life for people with disabilities and their families and medical and allied health education in developmental disabilities. He is a contributor to the Canadian consensus guidelines for primary care provided to adults with developmental disabilities and has worked extensively with the Ontario Networks of Specialized Care to build capacity for both research and evaluation related to persons with developmental disabilities and mental health concerns. Dr. Isaacs is co-leading the H-CARDD project on youth in transition.
Jacques Lee (MD, FRCPC) is a scientist with Sunnybrook Research Institute and Director of Research and Scholarly Activity, Department of Emergency Services. His main research focus is improving the Emergency care of older persons through knowledge creation, translation, and advocacy. He leads the Paramedics Assessing Older Patients at Risk of Independence Loss (PERIL) study that used information collected by 1600 paramedics in Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto to identify older patients at risk for adverse outcomes. He was involved in the development of the EnTICE toolkit (Enabling Teamwork, Interprofessional Collaboration and Education), designed to be used by front line clinicians who want to successfully implement any best practices in their interprofessional health care team. Dr. Lee is a co-lead on the H-CARDD project on emergency care.
Elizabeth Lin (PhD) is an Independent Scientist in the Provincial System Support Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). She has served as a consultant for Statistics Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada and has extensive expertise in using large-scale surveys and administrative data to investigate mental health care use and delivery. Her recent work includes the development and reporting of indicators of gender disparities in depression care in Ontario, as well as a project for the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care describing the socio-demographic, clinical, and institutional characteristics of individuals designated as having alternate level of care or long-stay days in hospital. Dr. Lin is co-leading the H-CARDD project on mental health and addiction.
Lynn Martin (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Lakehead University and a member of the Chief Editorial Board for the Journal on Developmental Disabilities. Her research focuses on vulnerable populations, mental health, comprehensive assessment, and health services. For H-CARDD, she co-leads the knowledge creation project related to aging with a developmental disability.
Hélène Ouellette-Kuntz (PhD, BScN) is an epidemiologist and Professor in the Departments of Public Health Sciences and Psychiatry at Queen's University. She is the Director of the National Epidemiologic Database for the Study of Autism in Canada and of the MAPS Research Program (Multidimensional Assessment of Providers and Systems). Dr. Ouellette-Kuntz's research has involved working with individuals with developmental disabilities, family members, service providers, and policy makers, and has included analysis of administrative datasets in British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario. Since 2008, she has served as Secretary to the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. She is currently co-leading the H-CARDD project on aging, as well as a population-based intervention study to increase uptake of the periodic health exam by adults with developmental disabilities.
Simone Vigod (MD, MSc, FRCPC) is a Scientist at Women's College Research Institute and a Psychiatrist at Women's College Hospital. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). She obtained her medical degree from the University of Toronto in 2003, and completed her residency in psychiatry in Toronto in 2009. Having obtained a masters degree in clinical epidemiology (Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, 2011), Dr. Vigod has built a successful research program focusing on epidemiology and health services research relevant to women and men with mental health issues across the lifespan. Her role in the H-CARDD project is to co-lead the investigations focused on women's health.
Jonathan Weiss (PhD, C. Psych) is an Assistant Professor at York University and a Clinical Psychologist, who works with children, adolescents, and adults with developmental disabilities. He holds the CIHR Chair in Autism Spectrum Disorders Treatment and Care Research and a New Investigator Fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation.Dr. Weiss' research focuses on the prevention and treatment of mental health problems in people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and/or intellectual disabilities (ID) across the lifespan. He is working with H-CARDD to explore health care service use in transition age youth with developmental disabilities, including who maintains access to a primary care physician and who requires mental health services over time.
