Clinical Team

Physicians

Dr. Meir Steiner MD, PhD, FRCPC
Founding Director

Meir Steiner, MD, PhD, FRCPC, graduated magna cum laude receiving his MD from the Tel Aviv University in 1968 and his PhD in Neurosciences in 1979 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is the Founding Director of the Womens Health Concerns Clinic at the hospital which has been in operation since 1988. In addition to his current positions as Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences and Obstetrics & Gynecology at McMaster University and as Professor, Department of Psychiatry and the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto, he is also an Adjunct Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Professor Steiners primary areas of research and publications have been the pathophysiology and psychopathology of mood and anxiety disorders related to womens reproductive cyclicity. He is the editor-in-chief of the Archives of Women's Mental Health. He acts as a medical consultant, as an advisory board member and is on the speakers bureau of several major pharmaceutical companies. Professor Steiner is a member of many professional societies, including the CCNP which honoured him in the year 2000 with the Heinz Lehman Award for his outstanding contributions in the field of research in neuropsychopharmacology, and again in the year 2011 with the CCNP medal for a meritorious career in neuropsychopharmacology. In 2003 he has been honoured with The Andre Boivin Visiting Professorship Award from the Motherisk Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and the NASPOG Young Investigators Award has been renamed after him since 2006.

Dr. Benicio N. Frey MD, PhD
Clinical Director

Benicio Frey, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University and attending psychiatrist at the Mood Disorders Program and the Womens Health Concerns Clinic, St. Josephs Healthcare. He completed his MD and specialization in Psychiatry at the Federal Medical School of Porto Alegre, Brazil, and his MSc and PhD in Biochemistry at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In 2005-2006, he did a Research Fellowship at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas, working with brain imaging in bipolar disorder patients. In 2006-2007, he did a Postdoctoral Fellowship in brain imaging at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, conducting a PET imaging study correlating serotonin synthesis and 5HT1A receptor binding in the human brain. In some of his current research projects, Dr. Frey is applying brain imaging techniques (fMRI, MR Spectroscopy and Voxel-based Morphometry) before and after treatment of perimenopausal women with major depression. Dr. Frey is interested in understanding the cerebral mechanisms involved in mood and anxiety disorders. He has more than 50 publications accepted in peer-reviewed journals and has presented his work in numerous professional conferences. In addition, he co-supervises graduate and undergraduate students in various research projects.

Dr. Shiny Gunasekera MD

Shiny Gunasekera, MD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences and in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McMaster University. She is a staff psychiatrist at the Women's Health Concerns Clinic and the Mood Disorders Clinic at St. Joseph's Healthcare. She completed her medical and psychiatry residency training at the University of Manitoba. She completed a fellowship in reproductive psychiatry, cognitive behavioural therapy (mood and anxiety disorders), and interpersonal psychotherapy at McMaster University. Dr. Gunasekera is actively involved in teaching obstetrics and gynecology residents as well as family medicine residents.

Dr. Ryan Van Lieshout MD, PhD Candidate

Ryan Van Lieshout, MD, is a psychiatrist and clinical scholar in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences and a PhD candidate in the Health Research Methodology Program at McMaster University. He graduated from McMasters Honours Biology and Psychology Bachelors Program in 2000, the University of Ottawas Doctorate in Medicine Program in 2004, and became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 2009. His PhD research is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship and uses an epidemiological approach to determine the effects sub-optimal intrauterine environments (i.e. maternal physical and psychiatric illness in pregnancy) have on neurodevelopment and the later risk of psychiatric disorders in the offspring of these gestations.

Dr. Rebecca Anglin MD, FRCPC

Rebecca Anglin, MD, FRCPC, is a Psychiatrist and Clinical Scholar in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, a PhD candidate in Medical Sciences (Neuroscience and Behavioural Sciences) and a member of the Clinician Investigator Program at McMaster University. She is a psychiatrist at the Womens Health Concerns Clinic and in Acute Mental Health at St. Josephs Healthcare, Hamilton. Her research interests include womens mental health and the neurobiology of mental illness. She is the recipient of a 3-year Ontario Mental Health Foundation Research Fellowship Award and she has been principal investigator on grants from Physicians Services Incorporated, Regional Medical Associates and the Hamilton Health Sciences New Investigator Fund. She has received numerous academic awards as a resident and fellow including a Faculty of Health Sciences Graduate Program Excellence Award, Hamilton Health Sciences Outstanding Senior Resident Award, Best Resident Award from St. Josephs Healthcare, Stegne Fellowship, Richard and Mary Pelling Foundation Awards, and best poster awards, best paper awards and travel scholarships from several organizations. In addition to her research activities, Dr. Anglin is actively involved in teaching in the McMaster Psychiatry residency program and organizes and facilitates the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Encounter) training sessions for the McMaster Psychiatry Residents and co-facilitates the neuropsychiatry core seminar series.

Clinicians

Clinicians – From Left to Right:
Stephanie Bissell, MSW, RSW;
Erika Haber, MSc, Comorbidity Clinician
(Missing: Karen Jansen, MSW, RSW; Dawn Gore, RN, MHST, CPMHN(C))