Ayal Schaffer

Ayal Schaffer (MD, FRCPC) is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. He currently serves as Vice President, Research, for the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD). He is Deputy Editor of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, and sits on the Board of the Canadian Network of Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT). His research interests involve the management of bipolar disorder, as well as understanding suicide risk and prevention. His clinical work is focused on inpatients as well as an outpatient mood disorders clinic at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Education

BSc, 1992, University of Western Ontario, Canada
MD, 1996, University of Toronto, Canada
2001 Psychiatry Residency Program, University of Toronto, Canada
2002 Research Fellowship, Mood Disorders Program, Department of Psychiatry, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Supervisor: Dr. Anthony Levitt, MD, FRCPC

Appointments & Affiliations

Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Vice President Research, International Society for Bipolar Disorders
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Research Foci

Bipolar disorder
Suicide prevention

Affiliated Labs & Programs

Suicide Prevention Research Collaborative (SPRC)

Selected Publications

Schaffer, A., & Malhi, G. S. (2024). A new model for the prevention of suicide in bipolar disorder: Every patient, every setting, every provider. Bipolar Disorders, 26(4), 309–312. Sinyor M, Men VY, Chan PPM, Morales DS, Levitt AJ, Schaffer A. (In-press). Long-Term Impact of the Bloor Viaduct Suicide Barrier on Suicide Rates in Toronto: A Time-Series Analysis. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.Yatham LN, Arumugham SS, Kesavan M, Ramachandran K, Murthy NS, Saraf G, Ouyang Y, Bond DJ, Schaffer A, Ravindran A, Ravindran N, Frey BN, Daigneault A, Beaulieu S, Lam RW, Kondapuram N, Reddy MS, Bhandary RP, Ashok MV, Ha K, Ahn YM, Milev R, Wong H, Reddy YCJ; BEAM-BD Trial Group. Duration of Adjunctive Antidepressant Maintenance in Bipolar I Depression. N Engl J Med. 2023 Aug 3;389(5):430-440Holman S, Steinberg R, Sinyor M, Lane H, Starritt K, Kennedy SH, Niederkrotenthaler T, Zaretsky A, Castel S, Schaffer A. Caring Contacts to Reduce Psychiatric Morbidity Following Hospitalization During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Can J Psychiatry. 2023 Mar;68(3):152-162Schaffer, A., Sinyor, M., Kurdyak, P., Vigod, S., Sareen, J., Reis, C., Green, D., Bolton, J., Rhodes, A., Grigoriadis, S. & Cairney, J. (2016). Population‐based analysis of health care contacts among suicide decedents: identifying opportunities for more targeted suicide prevention strategies. World Psychiatry. 2016;15(2):135-145.