Diana Clarke, Ph.D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Diana Clarke received her B.Sc. (combined honours) in Biology/Psychology from York University (1993) and her M.Sc. (2001) and Ph.D. (2006) in Epidemiology, with the Collaborative Program in Aging and the Life Course, from the University of Toronto. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow in Psychiatric Epidemiology in the Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and Population Health Studies in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She is currently funded by a CIHR post-doctoral fellowship and a Population Health Studies fellowship through the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Clarke has over 10 years of clinical research experience in the Department of Psychiatry at Baycrest where her work focused on gaining better understanding of the development of poor mental health, including depression, suicidal behaviours, cognitive impairment, or dementia in older adults. Her M.Sc. research project examined the role of a past traumatic event (the Nazi Holocaust) on suicidality in older adults, which resulted in publications in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and the Journal of Traumatic Stress. The publication in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry was the subject of a press release by the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatrists and generated much press interest. This work was described as one of the first empirically-sound scientific evidence of the long-term effect of the Holocaust on the mental health of survivors.

Dr. Clarke's doctoral research project took an innovative approach to examine ethnic differences in the pathways to suicidality among Canadian adults. The stress process model was used to demonstrate various pathways through which presumably low risk ethnic groups may be at high risk for suicidality, thus emphasizing the need for thorough assessment for suicidality among these groups especially if they present with depression, alcohol dependence/abuse and have significant economic stress. Results from this study have been presented at a number of national and international conferences with partial funding by M-THAC Opportunities Funds in 2004. Three manuscripts from this work are now under consideration for publication in peer-review journals such as Psychological Medicine.

Dr. Clarke is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards such as a doctoral training award from CIHR, Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Cognitive Team Research Excellence Awards from the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, a Ontario Mental Health Foundation Grant, and numerous awards for her work in aging and mental health.

During her graduate training, Dr. Clarke served as the Doctoral Student Representative on the Program Committee for the Collaborative Program in Life Course and Aging at the University of Toronto from 2001- 2006. During this time she was integral in the development of a course (Current Topics in Aging and the Life Course), which is now a program favourite. She was also played a lead role in the planning and development of the Epidemiology Seminar Series in the Epidemiology Program in the Graduate Department of Public Health Sciences. Dr. Clarke served as a Research Consultant for a number of faculty members in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Social Work. She was a Visiting Scientist with Dr. James Nazroo in the Department of Epidemiology at University College of London in the UK in 2006 and continues her collaboration with this research team. Dr. Clarke is a reviewer for the Journal of Traumatic Stress, Social Science and Medicine and Ethnicity and Health.

Dr. Clarke was involved in the following M-THAC project as an M-THAC fellow:

• Health Service Utilization Associated with Suicidal Behaviours in the Elderly in Ontario

Dr. Clarke has kindly allowed us to include the following bonus track materials:

• Clarke, D., Colantonio, A., Heslegrave, R., Rhodes, A., Links, P. & Conn, D. (2004). Holocaust experience and suicidal ideation in high-risk older adults. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 12(1): 65-74. The definitive version can be found at The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, http://ajgponline.org/.

• Clarke, D., Colantonio, A., Rhodes, A., Conn, D., Heslegrave, R., Links, P. & van Reekum, R. (2006). Differential experiences during the holocaust and suicidal ideation in older adults in treatment for depression. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 19(3):417-423. The definitive version can be found at the Journal of Traumatic Stress, http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/109882595

Contact Information:
Email: diana.clarke@utoronto.ca