Breakthrough Breakfast | Early Intervention for Youth Mental Health
June 3, 2025 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
This event will focus on early intervention for youth mental health. It will take place on Tuesday, June 3, from 7:30-9:00 a.m. at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
Hosted by Dr. Eileen Donovan-Wright, Associate Dean of Research
The speakers will include Drs. Lori Wozney, Sandra Meier, Jill Chorney and Rudolf Uher.
The event will highlight Dalhousie researchers' cutting-edge advancements in areas including digital apps co-designed with youth to promote wellness and motivate behavioural change, youth-centred approaches to care, the importance of translating research into clinical best practices, and early intervention and diagnosis.
Attendees will gain insights into how this pioneering research helps our partners improve diagnoses, treatments, and support systems for young people facing mental health challenges.
Immediately after the event, we invite you to meet Dr. Lori Wonzey, the new Sun Life Chair in Youth Mental Health, and explore our mini informational exhibition on exciting mental health research.
Dr. Lori Wozney
Dr. Lori Wozney is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Dalhousie and holds the Sun Life Chair in Youth Mental Health. She is a transdisciplinary scientist focused on re-thinking approaches to mental health services through the systematic study of possible, probable and preferable future models of mental health care.
Her collaborations span mental health, community health, emergency medicine, computer-science, and implementation science. She leads large-scale local and nationally funded research initiatives with a focus on learning-health systems and health equity. Recently, she received the Robert Bortolussi Award for Research Mentorship at the IWK Health Centre.
Dr. Rudolf Uher
Dr. Rudolf Uher is a psychiatrist and Canada Research Chair in Early Intervention in Psychiatry at Dalhousie University. He completed PhD in neuroscience at Charles University, psychiatry residency at the Maudsley Hospital, and fellowships in genetics and affective disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry, UK.
Dr Uher is testing early interventions to prevent mental illness and personalized treatments for depression. He leads the Families Overcoming Risks and Building Opportunities for Well-being (FORBOW) project, the Treatment Interrupt Depression Early (TIDE) trial, and the Data Science platform of the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression (CAN-BIND).
Dr. Sandra Meier
Dr. Sandra Meier is an Associate Professor in Dalhousie University’s Department of Psychiatry and holds the Canada Research Chair in Developmental Psychopathology and Youth Mental Health. She also leads the PROSIT Lab. Her research focuses on leveraging mobile technology to improve youth mental health care, with a strong emphasis on co-designing digital interventions with young people.
She has developed several mental health apps, integrating mobile sensing and AI for early detection and tailored interventions. Dr. Meier has secured significant research funding and published extensively on digital mental health and psychiatric genetics. As a mentor, she strongly advocates for equitable and youth-centred research that informs academic, clinical and public discussions.
Dr. Jill Chorney
Dr. Jill Chorney is a clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University. Dr. Chorney's research interests are in the areas of shared decision-making, patient-provider interactions, and behaviour change. She is one of the principal investigators on a $7.5-million Focused Research Investment grant from Research Nova Scotia. As Scientific Lead for the Mental Health and Addictions Program at IWK Health and Director of Research for the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Dr. Chorney is deeply committed to connecting research and care delivery to improve mental health outcomes for youth and those who support them.
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