Saadia Sediqzadah

MD, SM, FRCPC

Investigator, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute

Biography

Dr. Saadia Sediqzadah (she/her) is a psychiatrist, clinician-investigator and Continuing Medical Education (CPPD) Lead in the Department of Psychiatry at St. Michael’s Hospital. Her clinical practice is primarily outreach oriented, providing psychiatric care to patients who are homeless, in the shelter system, or in Toronto Community Housing. She is the psychiatrist lead for the Starting Treatment Early in Psychosis Service (STEPS) program, which serves transitional aged youth (ages 14-35) with psychotic illnesses. She also provides psychiatric care to youth shelters in Toronto via Inner City Health Associates. Accordingly, her clinical and academic interests centre upon severe and persistent mental illness and marginalized populations.

She holds a Science Master’s degree in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health (HSPH). During her training, she gained expertise in health economics, and she hopes to build a bridge between the fields of health economics, decision science and mental health. She is a member of the Society for Medical Decision Making and is an invited member of their conference planning committee.

Much of her academic work is rooted in social justice and advocacy. In the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, she is a Co-Lead for the Underserved/Marginalized Populations Selective and Curriculum for psychiatry residents. In that role, she developed curriculum on themes including racism in mental health care, providing care to trans and non-binary populations, and police involvement in mental health care. While at Harvard, she was an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Fellow, where she organized campus programming on islamophobia, racism and mental health stigma. During her residency training, she was awarded the Zofia Pakula Social Justice Award from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Her advocacy efforts have garnered considerable national media coverage including The Globe and Mail, CBC Radio and CTV.

Finally, being the only psychiatrist of Afghan descent in Canada, she supports the Afghan diaspora in the Greater Toronto Area. In her short career thus far, she has mentored multiple racialized and underrepresented medical students across Canada with career interests in psychiatry and social advocacy in medicine.

Recent Publications

  1. Ekeleme, N, Yusuf, A, Kastner, M, Waite, K, Montesanti, S, Atherton, H et al.. Guidelines and recommendations about virtual mental health services from high-income countries: a rapid review. BMJ Open. 2024;14 (2):e079244. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079244. PubMed PMID:38388504 PubMed Central PMC10884256.
  2. Zhang, D, Law, S, Sediqzadah, S. Tardive dyskinesia's under-recognition in the era of COVID-19. Schizophr Res. 2024;266 :88-89. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.02.004. PubMed PMID:38377872 .
  3. Kassam, A, Beder, M, Sediqzadah, S, Levy, M, Ritts, M, Maher, J et al.. Impact of COVID-19 on the lives of people with severe mental illness-front-line community psychiatry workers observation from a provincial survey of assertive community treatment teams in Ontario, Canada. Int J Ment Health Syst. 2023;17 (1):18. doi: 10.1186/s13033-023-00585-8. PubMed PMID:37328776 PubMed Central PMC10273506.
  4. Talaat, H, Bashayan, S, J N Raymakers, A, Bayoumi, AM, Papatheodorou, S, Sediqzadah, S et al.. Health-related quality of life measures in incarcerated populations: protocol for a scoping review. BMJ Open. 2022;12 (4):e052800. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052800. PubMed PMID:35470181 PubMed Central PMC9039373.
  5. Sediqzadah, S, Portnoy, A, Kim, JJ, Keshavan, M, Pandya, A. Cost-Effectiveness of Early Intervention in Psychosis: A Modeling Study. Psychiatr Serv. 2022;73 (9):970-977. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.202100161. PubMed PMID:35193372 .
  6. Sediqzadah, S, Ghebrehariat, L, Weersink, KT, Fisman, DN, Naidoo, KA. Involuntary isolation: interpreting mental health legislation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Br J Psychiatry. 2021;219 (5):575-577. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2021.94. PubMed PMID:35048823 PubMed Central PMC8280464.
  7. Lin, JL, Lipstein, EA, Wittenberg, E, Tay, D, Lundstrom, R, Lundstrom, GL et al.. Intergenerational Decision Making: The Role of Family Relationships in Medical Decision Making. MDM Policy Pract. 2021;6 (2):23814683211039468. doi: 10.1177/23814683211039468. PubMed PMID:34734118 PubMed Central PMC8559218.
  8. Law, S, Guan, I, Beder, M, Ritts, M, Sediqzadah, S, Levy, M et al.. Further Adaptations and Reflections by an Assertive Community Treatment Team to Serve Clients with Severe Mental Illness during COVID-19. Community Ment Health J. 2021;57 (7):1227-1229. doi: 10.1007/s10597-021-00855-0. PubMed PMID:34109512 PubMed Central PMC8188942.
  9. Sediqzadah, S. Sister First, Doctor Second. N Engl J Med. 2019;381 (2):108-109. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1901489. PubMed PMID:31291513 .
  10. Johnson, SA, Sediqzadah, S, Erb, S. Expression and resilience of a cocaine-conditioned locomotor response after brief and extended drug-free periods. Behav Brain Res. 2012;230 (1):69-77. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.01.049. PubMed PMID:22326371 .
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Affiliations & Other Activities

  • Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto