DR. JUVERIA ZAHEER

Clinician Scientist CENTRE FOR ADDICTION AND MENTAL HEALTH

BIO: Juveria Zaheer is devoted to suicide prevention. She is a Clinician Scientist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. As an emergency department psychiatrist, Juveria provides urgent psychiatric care to those in crisis. Juveria’s research is transforming the understanding of suicide prevention in Canada. She believes suicide is not simply a consequence of mental illness but rather a tragic event with wideranging affects on families, friends, communities and society. Her research is providing the critical context necessary to develop and evaluate targeted and effective screening, service provision and suicide prevention. The combination of Juveria’s research training, clinical expertise and skills as a speaker and educator is impacting health care settings around the world and raising awareness of suicide among diverse communities (i.e. Chinese-canadian women, young Muslims, university students, Canadian Armed Forces service members). Her research and methods are creative, and have led to first-of-a-kind studies. One explored narrative of mental illness in suicide notes, while a second integrated epidemiological and qualitative methods to understand risk for suicide in any given population. Juveria is also on a mission to empower women and other minority groups that are significantly underrepresented within her profession. She is currently leading the first-ever qualitative study in the retention of women scientists in the mental health space. Juveria has received several teaching awards at the University of Toronto and created a curriculum focused on suicide risk assessment. She has also led qualitative research workshops at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, building capacity for high-quality international studies in suicide prevention. In 2019, Juveria was named CAMH Physician of the Year for her commitment to patient care, inter-professional collaborative skills, and education.

BEST/MOST-VALUED CAREER LESSON IN THE PAST YEAR: The COVID-19 pandemic has shown me the importance of being proactive in soliciting and anticipating concerns and challenges earlier rather than later. Arriving at work early gave me time to process what was going around me and check in with people, rather than trying to do this while managing the tasks of the regular workday.

BEST CAREER ADVICE: Think about the big picture - what is the story you want to tell? What kind of change do you want to make? Understanding your ultimate goal and your guiding values will allow you to do work that is meaningful and that matters.