Simone Vigod

Dr. Simone Vigod is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Women’s College Hospital. Her background includes an Honours BSc in Psychology from McGill University (1999), an MD from the University of Toronto, UofT (2003) and psychiatric residency at UofT (FRCPC, 2009). To build her research program, she undertook a Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the UofT Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) and is an Full Member of the School of Graduate Studies at UofT. Dr. Vigod’s research aims to address disparities in health and health care for individuals with psychiatric disorders, with a specific focus on women across the lifespan and on equity in access to treatment for diverse populations.  She is a Senior Adjunct Scientist at ICES, (formerly the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) where she conducts her population-based epidemiological research. Since 2018, she holds the Shirley A. Brown Memorial Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research and is a Senior Scientist at Women’s College Research Institute at Women’s College Hospital where she runs the clinical intervention part of her research program.  She has obtained over 15 million dollars in research funding as a principal or co-investigator for research from national and international funding agencies, and has published close to 250 peer-reviewed publications, with several manuscripts in top medical journals, including The British Medical Journal (BMJ), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).  Her research discoveries have been highlighted at the public level, with significant coverage from international and national media. Dr. Vigod also has a significant presence related to advocacy for quality of care at the provincial and national level that will guide implementation of interventions to improve the quality of mental health care delivery across the country.

Research Synopsis

Dr. Vigod's CIHR-funded research program involves large scale epidemiological research as well as clinical trials focused on women with mental illness and their children across the lifespan. She uses population based data to understand the prevalence, risk factors for, and consequences of maternal mental illness for mothers, children and families. She develops and evaluates innovative interventions to improve care for women with mental illness, with 2 currently funded randomized controlled trials of novel interventions for women with depression in pregnancy.