Biography
Dr. Maraj is a staff psychiatrist at St. Michael’s Hospital and researcher affiliated with the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. She completed her psychiatry residency at McGill University, during which time she conducted several research projects with the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychosis (PEPP) at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montréal. Her work focused on service disengagement amongst ethno-cultural minority clients.
She is interested in improving the quality of care and long-term outcomes for individuals with psychotic disorders with a particular focus on inpatient psychiatric care. She has previously been involved with research through the Social Determinants of Mental Health department at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Office of Global Health at the University of Ottawa, as well as the Neurobehavioural Lab at Western University.
Select Publications:
- Maraj A, Ferrari M. In the Patients’ Best Interest: Visitors Policy and Inpatient Psychiatry Wards in the COVID-19 Era. Can J Psychiatry. 2021 Feb 2:706743721990798. Epub ahead of print. PMID:33525901.
- Ndetei DM, Mutiso V, Maraj A, Anderson KK, Musyimi C, McKenzie K. Stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness among primary school children in Kenya. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2016 Jan;51(1):73-80. Epub 2015 Jul 8. PMID: 26154242.
- Iyer SN, Malla A, Taksal A, Maraj A, Mohan G, Ramachandran P, Margolese HC, Schmitz N, Joober R, Rangaswamy T. Context and contact: a comparison of patient and family engagement with early intervention services for psychosis in India and Canada. Psychol Med. 2020 Sep 28:1-10. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32981550.
- Maraj A, Mustafa S, Joober R, Malla A, Shah JL, Iyer SN. Caught in the “NEET Trap”: The Intersection Between Vocational Inactivity and Disengagement From an Early Intervention Service for Psychosis. Psychiatr Serv. 2019 Apr 1;70(4):302-308. Epub 2019 Feb 5. PMID:30717644.
- Daneault JG, Maraj A, Lepage M, Malla A, Schmitz N, Iyer SN, Joober R, Shah JL. Medication adherence in first episode psychosis: the role of pre-onset subthreshold symptoms. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2019 Apr;139(4):336-347. PMID: 30712261; PMCID: PMC6426680.
- Maraj A, Iyer SN, Shah JL. Enhancing the Engagement of Immigrant and Ethnocultural Minority Clients in Canadian Early Intervention Services for Psychosis. Can J Psychiatry. 2018 Nov;63(11):740-747. Epub 2018 Aug 1. PMID: 30067385; PMCID: PMC6299191.
- Maraj A, Anderson KK, Flora N, Ferrari M, Archie S, McKenzie KJ; ACE Project Team. Symptom profiles and explanatory models of first-episode psychosis in African-, Caribbean- and European-origin groups in Ontario. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2017 Apr;11(2):165-170. Epub 2015 Sep 10. PMID: 26353924.
- Maraj A, Veru F, Morrison L, Joober R, Malla A, Iyer S, Shah J. Disengagement in immigrant groups receiving services for a first episode of psychosis. Schizophr Res. 201 Mar;193:399405. Epub 2017 Aug 10. PMID: 28803848.
