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Vision

The Synergy Committee, in collaboration with other key committees, is dedicated to establishing CAAP as a world-class model of progressive, comprehensive patient care. This model will be anchored in evidence-based, culturally responsive practices and inclusive standards tailored to the needs of populations with concurrent disorders. The committee’s goal is to work in partnership with diverse organizations to develop cohesive strategies, streamline processes, and ultimately drive transformative change in healthcare

Dr. Christian Schütz (CO-CHAIR)

MD, PhD, MPH, FRCPC

Christian G. Schütz, MD, Ph.D., MPH, FRCPC is a practicing psychiatrist, Associate Professor in the University of British Columbia’s Department of Psychiatry, and the Research and Education Medical Manager at the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions. He holds an MD from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany, a PhD in Medical History from the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, and an MPH from John Hopkins University. He also completed a Fogerty-Fellowship at NIDA/NIH and DISCA-Fellowship at Yale University. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles and a dozen book chapters, and has supervised more than 30 students across the globe in areas such as psychiatry, addiction medicine, and clinical neuroscience. His research interests include psychological and pharmacological interventions for individuals with substance use disorders, psychoneurobiological aspects of impulsive decision making, and substance use and concurrent disorders more generally.

Dr. Wiplove Lamba (CO-CHAIR)

MD, FRCPC, ISAM (c ) , ABPM (Addiction Medicine), ABPN (Psychiatry)

Wiplove Lamba MD, FRCPC, ISAM (C), ABPM (Addiction Medicine), ABPN (Psychiatry) is currently the Substance Use Disorders Lead at Sinai Health System in Toronto, an University affiliated hospital.   This work involves both A) the development of an inpatient consult service and post-discharge clinic and B) partnering with teams in the emergency department, family medicine, Obs/Gyne, consultation-liaison and emergency psychiatry, pain medicine, and the post acute rehabilitation facility (Bridgepoint Healthcare) to build clinical pathways and training programs to help substance use health care become a general medical skills.  He previously was education lead for the addiction program at St. Michael’s Hospital, an inner city hospital in Toronto where a small team started a consultation service in 2014 with about 3-6 residents per year, and by the time he left in 2020, they had over 70 residents and addiction fellows rotate through their service per year.  He has co-presented on over 60 workshops at the national level at conferences including the Canadian Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine. 

Jessica Booth (JUNIOR TRAINEE)

BSc Graduate

Jessica Booth is a BSc Graduate at the University of British Columbia studying Behavioural Neuroscience. She plans on testing and developing medication and medical procedures oriented to the betterment of women’s health. Currently, she is investigating impulsivity in bipolar, stimulant users and gamblers to develop procedures for biological treatments. She hopes to continue her investigation in medicine and mental health to improve the standard of treatment for minority groups.

The current public health emergency based on the opioid overdose crisis and a historic mortality due to a mental illness is a critical challenge. We all need to step up our response through:

  • Research on the root causes, risks and effective interventions, strengthening infrastructure and funding. The existing patterns of use and disastrous consequences require and adaptation to the situation, like in a pandemic.
  • Engagement with high – risk patients to building on their needs early. Following positive experiences in other parts of care, we need early intervention structures and interventions.
  • A clinical trajectory providing the framework from prevention, lifestyle mentoring to counselling and early intervention to an intense crisis management with easy access, virtual care and patient empowerment.
  • Specialty interventions for the most vulnerable informed by scientific evidence.

The Canadian Academy for Addiction Psychiatry (CAAP) wants to attract every engaged professional in the field to strive towards outcome oriented collaboration to achieve high quality care and synergy caring for the most vulnerable.