Initiatives

• The mental health service design preferences of emerging adults 
• Treatment outcome preferences of patients with schizophrenia
• Patient and Family-Centered approaches to early intervention in the emergence of mental health problems.
• Self management and it’s facilitation by smart technology for people with mental health problems
• The prevention program design preferences of students and teachers
• Design factors that encourage the utilization of early intervention services
• Mental health service designs that reduce attrition in mental health treatment

Other Faculty

• Suzanne Archie, MD
  • Dr. Archie uses arts-based research methods, film and video games to introduce and explore in depth the various barriers and obstacles that families and patients face as they attempt to navigate the mental healthcare system. These media are used to try and reveal universal truths about the implications of our system and to explore how the system can improve access to care.

• Peter Bieling, Ph.D.
  • Dr. Bieling's work focuses on the science of quality improvement particularly the IHI Triple Aim of improving patient experience, outcomes, and reducing costs. Methods to include service recipient’s perspectives and designing care systems around patient preferences and needs is an area of administrative and academic interest.

• Kerry Boyd, MD
  • Kerry Boyd is a psychiatrist who has worked with people with ‎developmental disabilities and taught person/family-centred practices for over two decades. As a 2013-2015 AMS Phoenix Fellow she has developed the Curriculum of Caring for people with developmental disabilities with the aim of fostering health care providers who are more capable (comfortable, confident, competent) in delivering compassionate person/family-centred care.

• Charles Cunningham, Ph.D.
  • Dr. Cunningham’s research uses methods from marketing research and economics to engage patients, family members, and potential service users in the design of a wide range of health and mental health services, health promotion programs, and prevention initiatives. These studies focus on understanding heterogeneity in preferences and modeling services that address the preferences of different segments of those factors which are most important to These include trials of promising services and dissemination strategies.

• Nick Kates, MD
  • Dr. Kates is interested in a) understanding the patient experience and using it to improve and redesign services and systems of care b) engaging patients in their own care and supporting them to better manage their own care c) health literacy d) innovative approaches to patient education e) Engaging families.

• Meghan McConnell, MD
  • As more and more emphasis is placed on person/family-centered care, it becomes increasingly important to determine how best to teach such highly complex skills. As an education researcher, Dr. McConnell is interested in how to teach and assess person- and family-centered care within medical trainees.

• Abraham Rudnick, MD, Ph.D.
  • Dr. Rudnick leads and collaborates on research addressing person-centered mental health care, service planning, education and research. As part of that, Dr. Rudnick is involved in research on use of smart technology for self-care of people with mental health challenges. He has also conducted research on burden of families of people with mental health challenges.

• Sid Stacey
  • Sid Stacey is interested in health policy associated with person and family centred care and innovations in health care delivery models.

• Juliana Tobon, Ph.D.
  • Dr. Tobon's research at the Youth Wellness Centre is focused on early interventions for youth ages 17-25 who are help-seeking. The Youth Wellness Centre takes a youth- and family-centred approach to all clinical services, from service design to interventions offered. Dr. Tobon's current research project is on a transdiagnostic early intervention pilot randomized controlled trial examining the feasibility and the outcomes of an emotion regulation skills group for youth and a family group for family members.

• Robert Zipursky, MD
  • Dr. Zipursky’s research is focused on understanding the range of illness outcomes experienced by individuals with schizophrenia. He is currently investigating what outcomes are of most importance to those living with schizophrenia, how outcome priorities may vary between individuals, and what interventions individuals are prepared to embrace to achieve their goals.