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Mark Sinyor
Mark Sinyor

Associate scientist

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
2075 Bayview Ave., Room FG 22b
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:

  • Hon. B.Sc., 2002, chemistry, University of Toronto, Canada
  • M.Sc., 2003, chemistry, U of T, Canada
  • MD, 2007, U of T, Canada
  • FRCPC, 2012, U of T, Canada

Appointments and Affiliations:

Research Foci:

  • Suicide prevention
  • Mood and anxiety disorders
  • Placebos and expectation effects
  • Randomized controlled trial design
  • Public health

Research Summary:

The focus of Dr. Sinyor's research is in two areas within the field of mood disorders.

Suicide is a leading cause of premature death around the world and the second most common cause of death in young people in Canada after accidents. Dr. Sinyor is one of the founding members of PROGRESS (Program of Research and Education to Stop Suicide) at Sunnybrook. He is using coroner's records and other data sources to examine thousands of suicides that have occurred in Toronto and more broadly in Ontario to understand suicide better and to inform future efforts in suicide prevention. He is also conducting clinical trials that aim to prevent suicide in hospitalized patients.

There is growing evidence that expectations and the placebo effect have an important, under-recognized impact on mood and anxiety disorders both clinically and in research trials. Dr. Sinyor is working in this emerging field to understand how these factors influence outcomes and whether there are avenues to optimize expectations to improve patient care.

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

  1. Sinyor M, Schaffer A, Redelmeier DA, Kiss A, Nishikawa Y, Cheung AH, Levitt AJ, Pirkis J. Did the suicide barrier work after all?: Revisiting the Bloor Viaduct natural experiment and its impact on suicide rates in Toronto. BMJ Open. 2017;7(5):e015299.
  2. Sinyor M, Fefergrad M, Cheung A, Selchen S, Zaretsky A. The boy who lived well: Harry Potter as a novel tool for teaching cognitive-behavioral therapy skills to youth. JAACAP Connect. 2017;4(2):15–21.
  3. Sinyor M, Pirkis J, Picard A, McKeown D, Vincent M, Cheung C, Schaffer A, Fordham J, Mishaiel R, Heisel M. Towards a shared understanding: perspectives from Toronto’s first media forum for suicide prevention. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 2016 Oct 20;107(3):e330–e332.
  4. Sinyor M, Tan LP, Schaffer A, Gallagher D, Shulman K. Suicide in the oldest old: an observational study and cluster analysis. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2016 Jan;31(1):33–40.
  5. Sinyor M, Schaffer A, Remington G. Suicide in schizophrenia: an observational study of coroner records in Toronto. J Clin Psychiatry. 2015;76(1):e98–103.
  6. Sinyor M, Schaffer A, Streiner D. Characterizing suicide in Toronto: an observational study and cluster analysis. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2014;59(1):26–33.
  7. Sinyor M, Schaffer A, Smart K, Levitt AJ, Lanctot KL, Grysman N. Sponsorship, antidepressant dose and outcome in major depressive disorder: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Clin Psychiatry. 2012;73(2):e277–e287.
  8. Sinyor M, Howlett A, Cheung AH, Schaffer A. Substances used in completed suicide by overdose in Toronto: an observational study of coroner's data. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2012;57(3):184–191.
  9. Sinyor M, Remington G. Is psychiatry ignoring suicide? The case for clozapine. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. 2012;32(3):307–308.
  10. Sinyor M, Levitt AJ. Effect of a barrier at Bloor Street viaduct on suicide rates in Toronto: Natural experiment. BMJ. 2010;41,c2884.
  11. Sinyor M, Levitt AJ, Cheung AH, Schaffer A, Kiss A, Dowlati Y, Lanctôt KL. Does inclusion of a placebo influence response to active antidepressant treatment in randomized controlled trials? J Clin Psychiatry. 2010;71(3):270–279.

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