2024: A Year in Review at the Digital Mental Health Lab

As 2024 draws to a close, we celebrate a year filled with accomplishments, growth, and innovation at the Digital Mental Health Lab. Our collective efforts have continued to drive the advancement of digital mental health research, education, and implementation - creating meaningful impacts across Canada and beyond.

Here’s a look back at our lab’s collective achievements and individual milestones:

These numbers showcase the commitment of our team to engage, share, and innovate in the field of digital mental health. We also want to acknowledge our many funder and collaborators including CIHR, SSHRC, AMS Healthcare, Health Canada, Homewood Research Institute, Ontario SPOR Support Unit; and collaborators including but not limited to: Dr. Venkat Bhat, Dr. Richard Booth, Dr. Kim Jackson, Dr. Juveria Zaheer, Dr. Anthony Levinson, Dr. Tania Tajirian, Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingam, Dr. Tracie Risling, Dr. Lydia Sequeira, Dr. Sean Kidd, Dr. John Torous, Dr. Tristan Glatard and many more!

2024 Highlights: Lab Member Achievements

Dr. Nelson Shen was promoted to Staff Scientist this year and invited to lead the Health Services Research Hub for the International Centre for Translational Digital Health—a partnership spanning the University of Toronto, University of Manchester, and University of Melbourne. A key highlight was attending the “This is Service Design Doing Executive School” in Amsterdam, where he learned directly from the authors of a seminal text in service design, further enriching his expertise. Dr. Shen also contributed to global conversations by presenting at the eMental Health International Collaborative (eMHIC) Round Table and joining its think tank in Ottawa this past September.

Hwayeon Danielle Shin collaborated with the Oxford NHS during her visit to England this summer. During this time, she presented her PhD research at Oxford Brookes Nursing School and the NI 2024 conference in Manchester, where she shared insights gained from clinician recruitment for ICT implementation. This year, she has made significant research contributions, including a rapid scoping review on suicide prevention, published in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Danielle has also presented her work at various local and international digital health conferences, such as AMIA 2024, where she discussed the implementation of a digital safety planning intervention and analyzing suicide-related discourse on YouTube. Currently, Danielle is preparing for her PhD thesis defense.

Sri Kundurthi supported suicide prevention research with her co-authored work on the Hope App - soon to be published in SAGE Digital Health and Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. One highlight was disseminating this work via her presentation at the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics Research Rounds. She also gained key insights by attending the University Health Network’s Pride in Patient Engagement in Research (PiPER) conference, which broadened her understanding of meaningful user engagement in digital health initiatives

Charlotte Pape graduated from the Master of Health Informatics program at IHPME and joined the lab as a Research Analyst. A highlight was her first presentation at the University of Toronto’s Inaugural 2024 Future of Health Leadership, Informatics and Policy (FHLIP) Conference. Charlotte co-authored several publications on suicide prevention and nursing documentation burden, demonstrating her ability to jump in and get up to speed quickly with lab research studies and initiatives.

Iman Kassam transitioned to a new role as Manager of the Digital Innovation Hub. Throughout this year, she has presented her research at international digital health conferences and lead a number of digital health projects, two of which were funded by Health Canada. Moreover she is continuing her role as an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Toronto, and is continuing to grow her network by joining the Learning Health System Hub as an advisor and contributing to work groups such as the Ontario Nursing Informatics Group and the Knowledge Mobilization working group at CAMH.

Jessica Kemp had a remarkable year leading multi-site initiatives and studies, such as the CIHR-funded IDEA study, publishing five academic papers in high impact journals, and earning a promotion to Research Coordinator. She also continued her role with the University of Toronto as an Adjunct Faculty member, advancing her leadership and impact across multiple domains of digital health research.

Dr. Sara Ling continued to lead CIHR and AMS Fellowship funded research and is looking forward to rejoining the lab and disseminating the findings of her studies after her maternity leave ends in the summer of 2025. A highlight prior to her leave was presenting at the Nursing Leadership Network conference regarding nursing engagement in clinical informatics.

Keri Durocher reached a significant milestone by submitting her PhD dissertation this month in preparation for her defense in the new year. Alongside this academic achievement, Keri authored a rapid review of women’s experiences with patient portals, published in BMC Women’s Health, and actively participated in conferences such as the inaugural Womenmind Conference and the Perinatal and Child Health Annual Research Meetings. She also obtained a new Professor role teaching nursing at Sheridan College.

Ryan Chan embarked on his new role as Assistant Professor in Nursing at Western University and was elected as the President of the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association, marking a new chapter of leadership and influence in the informatics community. Ryan presented at the Technology in Psychiatry Summit in Phoenix Arizona earlier this month on his doctoral work in the AI space.

I (Gillian Strudwick) returned from my leave in September and stepped into the role of interim Scientific Director of the Digital Innovation Hub. This year, I had the opportunity to lead the development of the Canadian Nurses’ Association position statement on nursing in digitally enabled care environments, served as an advisor for the NHS England international CNIO table, was a Co-Chair the editorial board of NI2024 and presently Chair the Scientific Advisory for FHLIP 2025.

Looking Ahead

2024 has been a year of collective success, individual growth, and meaningful contributions to digital mental health innovation in Canada and beyond. We’re excited to build on this momentum in 2025, continuing to push boundaries, scale digital health initiatives, and expand our impact globally.

Thank you to our incredible team, collaborators, and funders for being part of our journey. Together, we’re shaping the future of mental health care.

Written by: Gillian Strudwick

December 2024