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Evaluative Clinical Sciences

SRI platforms

Ayal Schaffer
Ayal Schaffer, MD, FRCPC

Associate scientist

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
2075 Bayview Ave., Room FG 52
Toronto, ON
M4N 3M5

Phone: 416-480-4070
Fax: 416-480-6022

Administrative Assistant: Anjali Hardial
Phone: 416-480-4070
Fax: 416-480-6022
Email: anjali.hardial@sunnybrook.ca

Education:

  • MD, 1996, University of Toronto, Canada
  • FRCPC, 2001, psychiatry, U of T

Appointments and Affiliations:

  • Associate scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
  • Head, mood and anxiety disorders program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
  • Deputy psychiatrist-in-chief, Sunnybrook 
  • Associate professor, department of psychiatry, University of Toronto
  • Chair of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders Task Force on Suicide in Bipolar Disorder
  • Vice-president, education, International Society for Bipolar Disorders
  • Board of directors, Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments

Research Focus:

  • Mood disorders

Research Summary:

Dr. Schaffer’s academic focus is on mood disorders and suicide, with a particular interest in bipolar disorder, combining clinical and epidemiological methodologies. He is a past recipient of the John Dewan Prize from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (OMHF) in recognition for his research in population health and mood disorders.

He has been continuously funded since 1998 from agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Stanley Foundation, the OMHF, the National Institute of Mental Health and the Physicians’ Services Incorporated Foundation. Most recently, Dr. Schaffer was awarded an OMHF grant to study the health care utilization of individuals who die by suicide in Ontario. 

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

  1. Yatham LN, Beaulieu S, Schaffer A, Kauer-Sant’Anna M, Kapczinski F, Lafer B, Sharma V, Parikh SV, Daigneault A, Qian H, Bond DJ, Silverstone PH, Walji N, Milev R, Baruch P, da Cunha A, Quevedo J, Dias R, Kunz M, Young LT, Lam RW, Wong H. Optimal duration of risperidone or olanzapine adjunctive therapy to mood stabilizer following remission of a manic episode: a CANMAT randomized double-blind trial. Mol Psychiatry. 2015 Oct.
  2. Schaffer A, Isometsä ET, Tondo L, Moreno DH, Sinyor M, Kessing LV, Turecki G, Weizman A, Azorin JM, Ha K, Reis C, Cassidy F, Goldstein T, Rihmer Z, Beautrais A, Chou YH, Diazgranados N, Levitt AJ, Zarate CA Jr, Yatham L. Epidemiology, neurobiology and pharmacological interventions related to suicide deaths and suicide attempts in bipolar disorder: part I of a report of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders Task Force on Suicide in Bipolar Disorder. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2015 Sep;49(9):785–802.
  3. Schaffer A, Isometsä ET, Tondo L, H Moreno D, Turecki G, Reis C, Cassidy F, Sinyor M, Azorin JM, Kessing LV, Ha K, Goldstein T, Weizman A, Beautrais A, Chou YH, Diazgranados N, Levitt AJ, Zarate CA Jr, Rihmer Z, Yatham LN. International Society for Bipolar Disorders Task Force on Suicide: meta-analyses and meta-regression of correlates of suicide attempts and suicide deaths in bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disord. 2015 Feb;17(1):1–16.
  4. Schaffer A, Sinyor M, Reis C, Goldstein BI, Levitt AJ. Suicide in bipolar disorder: characteristics and subgroups. Bipolar Disord. 2014 Nov;16(7):732–40.
  5. Yatham LN, Kennedy SH, Parikh SV, Schaffer A, Beaulieu S, Alda M, O'Donovan C, Macqueen G, McIntyre RS, Sharma V, Ravindran A, Young LT, Milev R, Bond DJ, Frey BN, Goldstein BI, Lafer B, Birmaher B, Ha K, Nolen WA, Berk M. Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) and International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) collaborative update of CANMAT guidelines for the management of patients with bipolar disorder: update 2013. Bipolar Disord. 2013 Feb;15(1):1–44.

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