MENSANTE - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• COO
• Executive Vice President
• Member of the Management Team

Don has over 30 years experience in healthcare marketing and business development including pharmaceutical product development and launch with companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK and IMS Health. He has been developing Practitioner and Patient-focused Digital Health Solutions since 2002, helping Life Science organizations leverage technology to address the changing requirements of the healthcare landscape. Don is co-founder of Essential Research Inc. - a Digital Healthcare Market Research company specializing in understanding the Canadian Digital Health Landscape including EMRs & Point of Care Tools, Healthcare Practitioner and Health Consumer online and digital preferences and behaviours.

Dr. Brenda B. Toner, PhD, C. Psych., is Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Graduate Coordinator, Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. For the past 30 years, Dr. Toner has been involved in mental health and well-being. She has held many leadership positions including Head of the Women's Mental Health Program and the Director of the Fellowship Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Through this work she became increasingly more interested in the study and practice of mindfulness. She has published over 100 articles/book chapters and has given over 200 presentations on a variety of topics including eating disorders, anxiety, depression, irritable bowel syndrome and mindfulness. She currently teaches a Psychology of Mindfulness course in the Psychology Department and leads a weekly Mindful Meditation class through Health and Wellness at the University of Toronto.

Job Titles:

• President of the Board of the Halton Hills Family Health Team

Dr. Elliot Halparin is currently the President of the Board of the Halton Hills Family Health Team in Georgetown, Ontario. Dr. Halparin served as President of the Ontario College of Family Physicians (1987-1988) and the Ontario Medical Association (2002-2003). He graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1974, completed his family medicine residency training at the University of Toronto and practices comprehensive family medicine with the Halton Hills Family Health Team.

Job Titles:

• Director of the Center for Anxiety

Dr. Pollack is Director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has published over 300 articles, reviews and book chapters. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, and the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Institute of the Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as other advisory and editorial boards. His areas of clinical and research interest include the acute and long-term course, pathophysiology and treatment of patients with anxiety disorders including panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder and associated comorbidities, development of novel pharmacologic agents for mood and anxiety disorders, uses of combined cognitive-behavioral and pharmacologic therapies for treatment refractory patients, presentation and treatment of anxiety in the medical setting, and the pathophysiology and treatment of substance abuse.

Job Titles:

• Director
• Founder
• Rector
• Registered Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Neil Rector is a Registered Clinical Psychologist and the Founder and Director of the Forest Hill Centre for CBT. His clinical approach combines up-to-date, scientifically supported cognitive-behavioural treatments for a range of client difficulties in a respectful, supportive, and collaborative environment. His areas of clinical expertise include helping people to overcome depression, anxiety, phobias, OCD and Related Disorders, and stress-related problems and to enhance and promote psychological well-being. He has a special interest in helping clients that experience co-occurring anxiety and depression as well as clients who have tried other treatments but achieved less than optimal outcomes.

Job Titles:

• Medical Director of the Anxiety Treatment

Dr. Swinson is currently the Medical Director of the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. His clinical practice is focused upon anxiety and related disorders with an emphasis on OCD and related disorders. He has published approximately 200 peer reviewed papers, 10 books, and 40 chapters mainly on the subjects of anxiety disorders and substance dependence. His current research activity is funded by Canadian Fund for Innovation, Ontario Research Development Fund and Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Advanced Neuromodulation Services, Texas. He is the lead author on the Canadian Anxiety Disorders Guidelines (2006).

Job Titles:

• Medical Director
• Member of the Management Team
• C )
• C ), Medical Director
• John F. Greden Professor

Dr. Parikh is the author / editor of two books and over 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and co-author of CANMAT treatment guidelines for Depression and for Bipolar Disorder, the world's most cited mood disorder guidelines. His research includes clinical treatments in mood disorders, health services research, genetics, epidemiology, and educational research. He has conducted clinical trials looking at the combination of medication and psychotherapy for bipolar disorder and for depression, as well as pharmacotherapy trials in mood disorders. Current major projects include a multi-site study of Biomarkers in Major Depression, a RCT evaluating a new Pharmaco-genomics test for depression, Workplace Depression interventions, and a RCT of Telephone-Delivered CBT for Bariatric Surgery patients. As medical director of Mensante, he helped create a novel internet system for recognition and management of mental disorders in the workplace across North America. In Toronto, he served as Director of Continuing Mental Health Education and Head of General Psychiatry, and at Toronto's major hospital grouping, the University Health Network, he completed two terms as Deputy Psychiatrist-in-Chief and served as President of the Medical Staff Association and as a member of the Board of Trustees. Previously, he was head of the Bipolar Clinic and Director of CME at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. In March 2015, Dr. Sagar Parikh was appointed as the John F. Greden Professor of Depression and Clinical Neuroscience, and Professor of Psychiatry, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he was also designated Associate Director of the Michigan Comprehensive Depression Center. Dr. Parikh is also Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, where he was on staff full-time from 1994-2015.

Job Titles:

• CEO
• Founder
• Member of the Management Team
• President

Dr. Ozersky and his colleagues realized that rather than have physicians treating patients at the acute care phase, earlier intervention and adherence to simple, evidence-based treatments would have resulted in much better outcomes at a far lower financial and human cost. Sam is Mensante's founder and CEO. In 2008, the Canadian Association of Heath Informatics selected Dr. Sam Ozersky as recipient of the 2008 Community Based Physician Innovation Award for developing FeelingBetterNow®. The award was presented by the Canadian Medical Association. He is the Senior Consultant at the Toronto Hospital Mood Disorders Clinic. He is an expert in occupational psychiatry and has designed a mental health disability management system for a Fortune "Top Ten" company. He speaks and writes extensively about the critical relationship between mental health and the workplace. The focus of his concern is in developing information distribution systems that enable patients and physicians to benefit from state of the art psychiatric expertise usually found in university psychiatry clinics.

Job Titles:

• Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto

Dr. Kennedy is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the University Health Network, Toronto, President of the Canadian College of Neuropsycho-pharmacology, and a founding member and executive chair of the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT), the policy setting body of Canadian Psychiatry. He has authored and co-authored over 175 peer-reviewed articles, written nine books, and contributed over 40 separate chapters in various medical books and textbooks. He sits on many domestic and international psychiatric boards and has received several prestigious awards.

Job Titles:

• Psychiatrist

Dr. Bilkey is a psychiatrist specializing in ADHD in adolescents and adults. He is Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario and serves as Adjunct Mentor for the Ontario College of Family Physicians Collaborative Mental Health Project. He was the 2008 Content Chair for the CPA Collaborative Forums in Mental Health. Dr. Bilkey has completed a medical documentary on ADHD and has developed an educational program for primary care physicians accredited through the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Job Titles:

• Business Advisor
• Founder and Chairman of Canadian Forces & Families

John Randolph is the Founder and Chairman of Canadian Forces & Families. Founded in 2006, with the support of General Rick Hillier (CDS), Forces & Families is a Canadian volunteer organization that provides support to Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members, Veterans and their families. Under the leadership of chairman John Randolph, Forces & Families has helped raise charitable revenues in support of DND's Military Families Fund (the charity) and also help CAF men and women, their families and veterans to connect with Canadians through events such as Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation Days, to help improve morale, build mutual understanding, awareness and respect. Beginning in 2013 at the request of the then Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (VCDS) Forces & Families has planned and launched its Canadian Armed Forces and Veterans ‘Family Health and Mental Wellness Outreach Programs'. These programs now form the foundation of all projects and programs. John Randolph is a graduate of the University of Guelph, BA, in English literature. He has completed the executive studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management, Center of Information Systems Research (CISR) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also completed the Public Executive Program at the Queen's School of Business, Queen's University. In addition, he attended a special executive course offering for ‘Negotiation Skills in the Public Sector', at the Harvard Law School with Professor William Ury. The author of ‘Getting to Yes'. John has been a guest lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard School of Business. He has received the Distinguished Services Medal, Canada's highest civilian award - 2007 and a Commendation for service to the Canadian Armed Forces in 2011. John is a former Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Information Officer (CIO) with the Ontario Ministry of Revenue and the Ontario Management Board of Cabinet. He has 25 years experience consulting to the Government of Canada and Canadian industries. He is currently a Senior Vice President with Treacy & Co. in Needham, Massachusetts based in Toronto.

Job Titles:

• Business Advisor
• Member of the Management Team

John Thomas Mayberry CM, BA, PSYCH, LLD is the former Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Nova Scotia and is the retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dofasco Inc., a manufacturer of primary steel products. Mr. Mayberry currently serves as a director of Irving Oil and its subsidiaries. He holds a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario and a diploma from McMaster University in Metallurgy of Iron and Steel. He is a Member of the Order of Canada.

Job Titles:

• Business Advisor
• Chairman
• Member of the Management Team

Ron Barbaro is currently Chairman, Smart Employee Benefits (TSX: SEB) and Chairman of Levon Resources Ltd. (TSX: LVN). He is former Chairman of The Brick Ltd. and has served on more than 30 other public boards including Thomson Reuters. Prior to this, he served as President and CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (1998-2003); and President of the Toronto Argonaut Football Club 1993-1995. Mr. Barbaro served as President & CEO the Prudential Insurance Company of America Canadian Operations (1985 - 1990) pioneering the accelerated death payment concept of "Living Needs Benefit"; he then went on to become President of Prudential's Worldwide Ops. 1990-1993 - (and launched operations in Italy, Korea and Spain). Volunteer activities include: Chairman of the Toronto Design Exchange, Campaign Chairman of the United Way; and Chairman of the Toronto Zoo (1975 - 85) during which he successfully negotiated with China, the first ever exhibit of a pair of Pandas in Canada. In addition, Mr. Barbaro has been recognized with many awards, including the Order of Ontario; induction into the Academy of Achievement of Sales and Marketing Executives in both Canada and the U.S.A.; and featured in numerous print media and personal appearances for his significant contributions to the business world.

Zindel Segal, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Psychology in Mood Disorders at the University of Toronto - Scarborough and a Senior Scientist in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Dr. Segal has pioneered the use of mindfulness meditation for promoting wellness in the area of mood disorders. An author of over 10 books and 130 scientific publications, including The Mindful Way Through Depression - a patient guide for achieving mood balance in everyday life.