Donna Stewart

Dr. Donna Stewart is the director and inaugural chair in Women’s Health at University Health Network and the University of Toronto, where she is responsible for research, education, policy and health service delivery for women’s health. She is a university professor at University of Toronto and is appointed in the Faculty of Medicine in the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Medicine, Anaesthesia, Family and Community Medicine, and Surgery.

Dr. Stewart is a senior scientist in the Toronto General Research Institute and her research interests include women’s health, women’s mental health, resilience, interpersonal violence, psychological aspects of reproductive health, psychological reaction to physical illness and international health. Dr Stewart is past co-chair of the review committee and a current member of the board and zone 1 representative of the World Psychiatric Association.  She is the recipient of over 100 peer-reviewed research grants and has published over 350 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 5 books.  She is a reviewer of a number of research granting boards, and was a scientific officer 2002-06 and institutional advisory board member 2006-12 for Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institutes of Gender and Health.  She is past deputy editor and member of the board of the American Psychiatric Publishers Inc (APPI) (2000-11), the world’s largest publisher of mental health books and journals. 

Dr. Stewart has made numerous presentations to provincial, federal, and international government agencies responsible for developing policy and services on women’s health. She has served as a consultant to Health Canada, the World Health Organization, the USA National Institutes of Health (NIMH, NICHD), the US Office of Women’s Health Research, and the United States Public Health Service. She is past chair of the Section of Women’s Mental Health of both the World Psychiatric Association and the American Psychiatric Association, and was a member of the Ontario Women’s Health Council of the Ministry of Health.  She is Past-president of the International Association for Women’s Mental Health. She has been a visiting professor in Australia, Europe, India, China, Iceland, the Middle East, North and South Africa, and North and South American universities, and has presented at numerous international and national professional conferences in women’s health research.  She was the Year 2000 College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada visiting professor in medical research, 2001 distinguished member lecturer of the American Psychiatric Association, 2002 World Psychiatric Association distinguished lecturer, 2003 Symonds Award recipient, 2003 Margaret Mead Memorial Lecturer, 2004 distinguished fellow of the APA, 2005 honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association, 2006 fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, 2006 special consultant to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, 2007 consultant to the World Health Organization, 2009 WiSET visiting scientist to Japan, 2011 distinguished fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, 2012 HOPE Award winner for Mental Health, 2013 Shastri Indo-Canadian faculty award recipient and 2014 a member of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour.

Research Synopsis

Women's Health: Dr. Stewart's program examines factors related to the content and context of women's health and disease, locally, nationally and internationally. She employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to undertake research projects related to clinical care, violence against women, population health, patient-centered care, knowledge translation, health policy and health services accountability. Ongoing projects include intimate partner violence and health, resilience, depression, international health, multicultural health, perinatal health, physician stress and behaviour and antidepressant drugs during pregnancy.

Psychosomatic Medicine: Dr. Stewart is interested in the psychosocial effects of illness and coping strategies, and how these affect outcomes in chronic diseases. Projects focus on osteoporosis, information and decisional preferences in women with chronic diseases.

Policy, Education and Career Development: She is interested in public and professional education, health service accountability, policy development in women's health, gender aspects of career development, service accountability, mental health and violence policies, guidelines and curricula.

Recent Publications

1. Stewart, D. E. (2015). Battling perinatal depression. Lancet, 386(9996), 835–7. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61033-9
2. Stewart, D. E. (2015). Electroconvulsive therapy during pregnancy revisited. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 18(4), 655–6. doi:10.1007/s00737-015-0517-0
3. Stewart, D. E., Aviles, R., Guedes, A., Riazantseva, E., & MacMillan, H. (2015). Latin American and Caribbean countries’ baseline clinical and policy guidelines for responding to intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women. BMC Public Health, 15, 665. doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1994-9
4. Doyle, F., McGee, H., Conroy, R., Conradi, H. J., Meijer, A., Steeds, R., de Jonge, P. (2015). Systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis of sex differences in depression and prognosis in persons with myocardial infarction: A MINDMAPS study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 77(4), 419–28. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000174
5. Holtzman, S., O’Connor, B. P., Barata, P. C., & Stewart, D. E. (2015). The Brief Irritability Test (BITe): a measure of irritability for use among men and women. Assessment, 22(1), 101–15. doi:10.1177/1073191114533814
6. Moeller-Saxone, K., Davis, E., Stewart, D. E., Diaz-Granados, N., & Herrman, H. (2015). Promoting resilience in adults with experience of intimate partner violence or child maltreatment: a narrative synthesis of evidence across settings. Journal of Public Health (Oxford, England), 37(1), 125–37. doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdu030
7. Sacher, J., Rekkas, P. V., Wilson, A. A., Houle, S., Romano, L., Hamidi, J., … Meyer, J. H. (2015). Relationship of monoamine oxidase-A distribution volume to postpartum depression and postpartum crying. Neuropsychopharmacology : Official Publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 40(2), 429–35. doi:10.1038/npp.2014.190
8. Johnson, J., Sharman, Z., Vissandjée, B., & Stewart, D. E. (2014). Does a change in health research funding policy related to the integration of sex and gender have an impact? PloS One, 9(6), e99900. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0099900
9. Stewart, D. E., MacMillan, H., & Wathen, N. (2013). Intimate partner violence. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue Canadienne de Psychiatrie, 58(6), Insert 1 – 15, Encart 1–17. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23894770
10. Stewart, D. E. (2011). Clinical practice. Depression during pregnancy. The New England Journal of Medicine, 365(17), 1605–11. doi:10.1056/NEJMcp1102730

Appointments

Representative to AAMC Women in Medicine, University of Toronto
Founding Chair in Women’s Health, University Health Network 

Honours and Awards

Name: Order of Canada
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Name: Inaugural Chair of Women’s Health
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Name: Fellow, Canadian Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association, American College of Psychiatrists, World Psychiatric Association
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Name: Hope Inspiration Award
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Courses

Course Number: Research and academic development
Course Name: University Health Network Centre for Mental Health
Course Number: Residents, doctoral and postdoctoral students
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Course Number: CPE
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