Welcome to Psy-QIS – the Department’s academic home for Quality, Innovation and Safety education and scholarship.
Psy-QIS includes quarterly meetings of interested faculty and learners where emerging work in the department is reviewed and opportunities for professional development are shared. Psy-QIS also includes opportunities for collaboration and provides access to funding sources.
Established in 2021 as part of the Department’s Strategic Plan, our vision is to create an academic home in the Department of Psychiatry for faculty and learners engaged in quality improvement and patient safety work.
Our strategic priorities are:
Build Capacity
- Host regular meetings to review current QIS activities in the Department
- Conduct a needs assessment of all fully and partially affiliated sites
- Enhance QIS content at Departmental Days (i.e., CPPD, Don Wasylenki Education Day & Research Day)
- Promoting training in QIS
Build Community
- Establish online peer mentorship network for clinicians in QI
- Increase familiarity of senior faculty with QIS work and its value
- Modify the academic job description to include key QIS activities (Read the CQI job description)
- Work with CQUIPS to increase engagement with larger QIS community
Build Structure
- Establish terms of reference for PsyQIS
- Support collaboration between affiliated clinical sites and among Departmental divisions on QIS initiatives
- Provide funding opportunities for QIS scholarship.
PsyQIS Co-leads
Dr. Tara Burra
PsyQIS Co-lead and Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Physician Lead in Quality Improvement in the Department of Psychiatry at Sinai Health
Dr. Andrea Waddell
PsyQIS Co-lead and Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Medical Director of Clinical Informatics and Quality Standards, Waypoint Centre for Mental Health
Psy-QIS Members
Dr. Blanca Bolea-Alamanac
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Psychiatrist, Women's College Hospital
Dr. Paul Benassi
Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & IHPME, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.
Dr. Kinneret Fleiman
Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Program Psychiatrist for the Mood and Anxiety Day Program and Consultation-liaison and General Outpatient Psychiatrist, Humber River Hospital
Dr. David Gratzer
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Attending Psychiatrist, CAMH
Dr. Michael Hawkins
Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry
Staff Psychiatrist at the Scarborough Health Network Hospital
Dr. Rosalie Steinberg
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Staff Psychiatrist, Mood and Anxiety Program at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and Psychiatric Consultant at the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario
Dr. Carrol Zhou
Clinician-teacher and Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Staff Psychiatrist, Toronto General Hospital
Clinician Scholar Program
The Clinician Scholar Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto (U of T) aims to support and enhance the training of residents intending to pursue academic careers in education scholarship, quality improvement, and other creative professional activities (including the social sciences and humanities). The Clinician Scholar Program will provide broad and diverse training opportunities to prepare residents for future careers in these areas.