Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care’s new Medical Director, Regional Programs, will help lead the hospital’s efforts in maintaining clinical excellence, advancing best practices and transforming the client experience.
Dr. Andrea Waddell, in addition to her current role as Medical Director, Clinical Informatics and Quality Standards, will provide oversight beginning April 1 to such programs as:
- the Acute Assessment Program, which provides specialized short-term crisis intervention, risk assessment, rapid stabilization, symptom reduction and active treatment for people who require more mental-health support than can be provided in the community;
- the San Souci Program for Transition and Recovery, which specializes in the care of individuals with a severe and persistent mental illness, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and various disorders with an organic origin;
- the Bayview Program for Dual Diagnosis, which provides a suite of services to individuals with a developmental disability and mental-health needs.
Dr. Waddell, who joined Waypoint in April 2022, possesses expertise as an Inpatient Medical Director at University Health Network, and has served on the Consent and Capacity Board, a tribunal whose mission is to adjudicate issues relating to matters of consent, capacity and civil detention impacting vulnerable Ontarians.
She holds a master’s degree in Theory and Policy Studies from the University of Toronto, completed a postgraduate certificate in Safety, Quality, Informatics and Leadership at Harvard University, and received advanced training in Healthcare Leadership from the Rotman School of Management.
Dr. Waddell is a Clinician Scientist for the Waypoint Research Institute, where her cutting-edge work includes leveraging artificial intelligence to develop a system that would give early warning of a patient’s worsening mental state. This would allow health professionals to intervene and reduce the risk of harm.
She is also an Affiliate Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Ontario Health Central Region Co-Lead for Mental Health and Addictions, and Associate Director of the Division of Adult Psychiatry and Health Systems for the Temerty Faculty School of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Plabon Ismail will formally step down as Medical Director, Regional Programs, to focus on other leadership activities and his long-awaited career in forensic psychiatry. Waypoint thanks him for his years of leadership.
