The Selection Panel is working with TRAM participants to help them build stronger network proposals. The Panel will be tasked with choosing the successful network and will continue to mentor and monitor the progress of the successful network post-award.
The international panel brings together representatives with diverse and complimentary perspectives and experiences in the adolescent mental health arena. The Panel is composed of: patient and youth representatives, mental health policy experts, mental health care practitioners and scientists.
Selection Panel Responsibilities
The Selection Panel will be responsible for many activities throughout the selection process and post-award. These include:
- assessing Requests for Application in the initial application stage;
- reviewing two rounds of Letters of Intent (LOI), submitted in the first round by all applicants and subsequently by applicants that have been invited to apply;
- participating in the design and implementation of the Strengthening Workshop -- a collaborative and interactive workshop held for applicants from June 16 to June 18, 2013; and
- monitoring and mentoring the successful network post-award.
Selection Panel Members
- Dennis Furlong, Chair
- Kathryn Gill, Scientific Officer
- Aaron Brown
- Pam Gillett
- Howard Goldman
- Erin Hodgson
- Lucie Langford
- David Levine
- Austin Mardon
- Patrick McGorry
- Nina Schooler
- Paula Tyler
Chair: Dennis Furlong (Dalhousie, New Brunswick)
Dennis J. Furlong is a physician and former political figure in New Brunswick. He represented Dalhousie-Restigouche East in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2003. He was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and was educated at the University of New Brunswick, the University of Oregon, and Memorial University, receiving a M.D. from the latter institution. Dr. Furlong set up practice in Dalhousie, New Brunswick. From 1985 to 1986, he was president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick and, from 1988 to 1989; he was President of the New Brunswick Medical Society. He served as Minister of Health and Community Services from 1999 to 2000, Minister of Health and Wellness from 2000 to 2001, and Minister of Education from 2001 to 2003. In November 2005, Dr. Furlong took over as head of the inquiry into the use of Agent Orange at CFB Gagetown, after the resignation of Vaughn Blaney. He was named as the chair of the New Brunswick Trauma System Advisory Committee in October 2007.
Scientific Officer: Kathryn Gill (Montreal, Quebec)
Kathryn Gill is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and member of the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University, and the Director of Research at the Addictions Unit of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). She is also the Co-Leader of the Mental Illness and Addictions Axis at the Research Institute, MUHC. She obtained her PhD in psychology, and conducted post-doctoral studies at the Alcohol Research Centre, and the Addiction Research and Treatment Services of the University of Colorado. She divides her time between working at the Addictions Unit treating patients with drug and alcohol dependence using a combination of group and individual CBT-oriented psychotherapy, conducting research, and teaching at McGill University. Dr. Gill leads a multi-disciplinary program of research focused mental illness and substance dependence, with ongoing studies on the clinical and biological predictors of outcome and the development of new psychological and pharmacological therapies. Dr. Gill has had 10 years of experience working on scientific review panels at CIHR in a variety of capacities. She has served as a panel member of Behavioural Sciences B (BSB), a scientific officer (BSB) as well as a panel Chair (Team Grants B).
Aaron Brown (North Bay, Ontario)
Aaron is currently attending Nipissing University in his fourth year of the English program with Orientation to Teaching. Aaron has been thoroughly and passionately invested in working with and helping students transition to post-secondary education through Residence Life at Nipissing University, currently working as a Community Advisor (previously a Residents' Council Executive and Residence Don). As a member of the Residence Life Team, Aaron has been actively involved in developing both social and academic initiatives for residents, conducting mediations, bridging residents to resources both on- and off-campus, and responding to crisis situations. While not certain what the next step after university is, Aaron knows that he wants to be working with and promoting wellbeing in adolescents in some capacity, both domestically and internationally.
Pam Gillett (Toronto, Ontario)
Pam Gillett is currently working for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in the Provincial Services Support Program as a Health Promotion Lead in West Region. She is a provincial program lead in the area of universities and colleges and family programming. Her work at CAMH has included substance abuse prevention, suicide prevention and mental health promotion and prevention. Pam's interest in the area of mental health promotion and prevention comes from being a family member of several first degree relatives with serious mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. Her most meaningful experience comes from being involved in their care over the course of her lifetime. She has faced the unique challenges that most family members struggle with getting loved ones to recognize the illness, seek help and remain in care, while advocating on their behalf to get the services they require. Prior to her work at CAMH, she worked in the area of fitness assessment, exercise prescription, wellness programming and health promotion as the Fitness Director of an executive club and later as General Manager and Vice President of Service Development where she held a portfolio to improve client retention through enhanced service programs across the three clubs in the organization. She also works part time in a family residential home construction business.
Howard Goldman (Maryland, USA)
Howard H. Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Goldman received his M.D. from Harvard University and Ph.D. in social policy research from Brandeis University. He is a mental health services and policy researcher, who is the author of 300 publications in the professional literature. Dr. Goldman is the editor of Psychiatric Services. He served as the Senior Scientific Editor of the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health for which he was awarded the Surgeon General’s Medallion. For a decade Dr. Goldman directed the MacArthur Foundation Network on Mental Health Policy Research. In 1996 he was elected to the National Academy of Social Insurance, and in 2002 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine.
Erin Hodgson (Toronto, Ontario)
Erin is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she majored in Psychology. She also recently graduated from the Advanced Studies in Special Needs program at Humber College, and she plans to work with children who have autism and other social, emotional and behavioral challenges. She is passionate about child and youth mental health and well-being, a passion which has its roots in her own experiences with mental illness. After living through obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety, and major depression between the ages of ten and twenty, she is committed to helping other young people with mental health challenges gain access to the services they need as early as possible. Her recovery process has included volunteering as a mental health advocate and speaker, and sharing her story with audiences of students, parents, teachers, other professionals and the general public.
She has volunteered with the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario and the Stop the Stigma Project at the Toronto District School Board, where she has worked with a committee of dedicated mental health ambassadors. On the Stop the Stigma committee, she helped facilitate mental health literacy and anti-stigma training days for high school student leaders and school staff, helped empower youth to raise awareness of mental health and erase the stigma of mental illness in their school communities, and shared her story with youth to inspire them to talk about mental health and reach out for help when they need it. She also shared her youth perspective of mental illness and stigma at an international conference in Ottawa entitled Together Against Stigma: Changing How We See Mental Illness, where she stressed the importance of contact-based education and youth empowerment in reducing stigma and promoting early intervention. She recently participated in and spoke at the Unleash the Noise student mental health innovation summit in Toronto, organized by The Jack Project, where she facilitated brainstorming sessions with groups of student leaders from across Canada.
While she has gained a reputation as a confident and articulate public speaker, Erin is an introspective and sensitive nature lover who feels most at home curled up with a book or on a peaceful hike in the woods. She also has an adventurous spirit and would love to travel the world, and she practices mindfulness meditation in order to achieve balance and well-being in her life.
Lucie Langford (Montreal, Quebec)
Lucie Langford aspires to pursue a career in Neuroscience. She attended McGill University as a visiting student for the summer 2013 term and hopes to continue her undergraduate studies in the United Kingdom during the fall of 2014. Lucie enjoys being a part of health research initiatives that have real-world implications and are inclusive of all populations who engage the service. In her free time, Lucie participates in swimming, cycling and yoga.
David Levine (Montreal, Quebec)
David Levine is presently President and CEO of DL Consulting, offering services in Health System Management. Mr. Levine was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Montreal Health and Social Service Agency from 2002 to 2012. The Agency had the responsibility for health and social services for the region of Montreal (population of two million) with a $6.3 billion budget, and 43 public institutions offering services to the population. Prior to his appointment at the Agency, Mr. Levine was President and CEO of the Ottawa Hospital, one of Canada’s largest acute care teaching hospitals, from 1998 to 2001. Prior to his appointment in 1998, Mr. Levine was Delegate General for the Quebec Government in New York City. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of Notre-Dame Hospital in Montreal (1992-97), the Verdun General Hospital (1982-92), and the CLSC or community health center from (1975-78). During his career, he has held other important positions in the health field including at Quebec Occupational Health and Safety Commission (1980-82). He also acted as consultant to the Minister of Economic Development for the Quebec Government (1978-80). Mr. Levine was the Junior Minister of health in Quebec in 2002 after leaving the Ottawa Hospital. Mr. Levine has sat on the Board of the Ontario Hospital Association, the Quebec Hospital Association, the Ottawa Health Research Institute and the Canadian Health Care Association. He was also on the board of the Canadian Institute for Health Information and was President of the Canadian Association of Teaching Hospitals, as well as President of the Association of CEO’s of Quebec. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civic Engineering from McGill University, a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, England, and a Master’s degree in Health Administration from the University of Montreal.
Austin Mardon (Edmonton, Alberta)
Austin Mardon is a Member of the Order of Canada (awarded in 2006, invested in 2007). Mr. Mardon never hesitates to use his personal story as an example to others living with mental illness. In 1992, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Undaunted, he channeled his energies into writing and scientific research. It was at this time that he also became active as a mental health advocate, speaking out about issues affecting people who live with mental illness. Stressing the benefits and the importance of medication as a way to regain control over one's life, he has helped a great number of individuals to reclaim their place in society. Over the years, he has become not only a spokesperson, but also a champion who serves as a mentor and a beacon of hope for thousands of other Canadians.
Patrick McGorry (Queensland, Australia)
Patrick McGorry is a leading international researcher, clinician and advocate for mental health reform. He is the Executive Director of Orygen Youth Health, a world-renowned mental health organization for young people that has put Australia at the forefront of innovation in the prevention and treatment of mental illness. Orygen targets the needs of young people with emerging serious mental illness, including first-episode psychosis, and has become the model upon which many other youth mental health services in the world are based. Professor McGorry is also a director of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation (headspace). He believes that early intervention offers the greatest hope for recovery and, therefore, takes every opportunity to educate the community to recognize the early signs of mental illness, without stigmatizing or discriminating. Professor McGorry was named as Australian of the Year in 2010, in recognition of "his extraordinary 27-year contribution to the improvement of the youth mental health sector [that] has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of young people the world over." Professor McGorry was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2010.
Nina Schooler (New York/Washington, USA)
Nina R. Schooler is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, New York, NY (in addition to holding other positions). In all of these settings, she conducts research on the treatment of schizophrenia and its long-term course. She is a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum (CINP), the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. Professor Schooler has been President of the American Psychopathological Association and the Association for Clinical Psychosocial Research, and has served as an elected Councillor of the CINP. She has published widely in the peer-reviewed psychiatric literature and has served as an editor for volumes relating to psychiatric clinical trials, clinical assessment and research methods. Professor Schooler's contributions to the field have been recognized by the Gralnick Foundation-High Point Hospital Award from the Education and Research Foundation of the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, the Alexander Gralnick Research Investigator Award from the American Psychological Foundation and the Samuel Hamilton Award from the American Psychopathological Association. She received her PhD in Social Psychology from Columbia University in New York, and later served in leadership positions at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, Maryland, where she led a series of significant multicenter clinical trials of medication and psychosocial treatments for schizophrenia. She subsequently joined the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, where she directed the Psychosis Research Program and was Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology. She then served as Director of Psychiatry Research at the Zucker Hillside Hospital, conducting research in treatment of first-episode psychosis and negative symptoms in schizophrenia until moving to her present positions. At SUNY Downstate she has been conducting research on treatment and evaluation of first episode of schizophrenia. Currently, Dr. Schooler and SUNY Downstate are part of the leadership team for the Early Treatment Program (ETP), an NIMH RAISE project being conducted by the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. ETP is a multi-site clinical trial that compares an enhanced treatment intervention to community care for first episode psychosis.
Paula Tyler (Calgary, Alberta)
Paula Tyler, President of the Norlien Foundation, has had a long and distinguished career in the field of human services. Most recently she was the Vice President, Child and Women's Health and Specialized Clinical Services for the Calgary Health Region. Prior to this, Paula served as Vice President and CEO, Mental Health at Capital Health in Edmonton, Alberta. Her other professional experience includes the position of Chief Executive, Child Youth and Family Services for the Government of New Zealand and Deputy Minister for Alberta Children's Services. Paula has held several other senior executive positions with the Alberta Government including Deputy Commissioner for Children's Services and Assistant Deputy Minister for Alberta Family and Social Services. As well, Paula has been active in community volunteer work. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Calgary YMCA, a Board member of the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse and has served in a number of senior volunteer roles locally, provincially, and nationally in the area of disabilities.
