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Dr. Joel Sadavoy - International Federation on Ageing. Toronto, ON, CANADA

Dr. Joel Sadavoy

Medical Director Reitman Centre and Professor Psychiatry | Mt Sinai Hospital

Toronto, ON, CANADA

Dr. Joel Sadavoy is a Professor of Psychiatry and inaugural holder of theSam and Judy Pencer Chair in Applied General Psychiatry.

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Biography

Dr. Joel Sadavoy is Head of Geriatric Psychiatry, the Reitman Centre for Alzheimer's support and training, and head of community psychiatry services at Mount Sinai Hospital.

At the University of Toronto and Mount Sinai Hospital he is a Professor of Psychiatry and inaugural holder of theSam and Judy Pencer Chair in Applied General Psychiatry.

From 1980-1991 he was the Psychiatrist-in-Chief and founder of the Department of psychiatry at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. Following that, from 1991-1993 he headed the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry of the University of Toronto, during which time he was elected the founding President of the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry.
From 1998 -2001 he was Head, Division of General Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto and from 1998-2002 Clinical Director, Joint Program in General Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)/Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dr Sadavoy was President of the International Psychogeriatric Association from 2005-2007.

His research and clinical interests focus on clinical psychiatric care of the elderly with special reference to personality and development in aging, psychopharmacology, practical application of research in service delivery and overcoming barriers to access to mental health care for ethnoracial communities especially for seniors. He has worked locally, provincially and internationally for organizational change in the area of equity and diversity and to create coordinated systems of mental health service delivery. He has published over 100 professional articles, book chapters and books.

Areas of Expertise (3)

Frailty

Geriatric Psychiatry

Carers and Caregiving

Languages (1)

  • English

Media Appearances (2)

Managing ‘a funeral without an end’: A corporate solution to Canada’s growing ranks of ‘invisible’ caregivers

Financial Post  online

2014-04-29

The ranks of caregivers – particularly those caring for loved ones suffering from dementia — are expected to balloon along with Canada’s aging population. As Dr. Joel Sadavoy...

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Alzheimer's caregivers seek help to cope

CBC News  online

2013-12-11

Dr. Joel Sadavoy is head of geriatric psychiatry at the hospital's Reitman Centre for Alzheimer’s Support and Training, where he regularly sees people in their 80s or 90s who are struggling to provide care for someone at home. "They need a skill set to be able to deal with a person with dementia, who for example is simply refusing to do anything. Not eating or not bathing or not taking medication," said Sadavoy. "Or somebody who is inappropriate in their behaviour in public. What do you do?"

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Featured Articles (5)

Multi-family psycho-education group for assertive community treatment clients and families of culturally diverse background: A pilot study


Community mental health journal

2010 This study evaluates the incorporation of Multi-Family Psycho-education Group (MFPG) to an Assertive Community Treatment Team developed to serve culturally diverse clients who suffers from severe mental illness. Participants included Chinese and Tamil ...

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Barriers to access to mental health services for ethnic seniors: the Toronto study


Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

2004 OBJECTIVE: To identify and describe barriers to access to mental health services encountered by ethnoracial seniors. METHOD: A multiracial, multicultural, and multidisciplinary team including a community workgroup worked in partnership with seniors, families, and ...

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The immediate psychological and occupational impact of the 2003 SARS outbreak in a teaching hospital


Canadian Medical Association Journal

2003 The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Toronto, which began on Mar. 7, 2003, resulted in extraordinary public health and infection control measures. We aimed to describe the psychological and occupational impact of this event within a large hospital in the first 4 weeks of the outbreak and the subsequent administrative and mental health response.

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Personality disorders in old age


Handbook of mental health and aging

1992 The study of personality disorder (PD) is fraught with imprecision and plagued by an absence of data. This is true across all age categories but is especially evident in the oldage cohort—arbitrarily defined for the purpose of this chapter and in keeping with convention, ...

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A men's group: Psychotherapy of elderly men


International journal of group psychotherapy

1985 The group psychotherapy of a population of cognitively intact men, aged 70–95 years, resident in a home for the aged is described. Although this age group is often thought to be nonresponsive to psychotherapeutic intervention, it appears that group ...

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