Dr. Lena Quilty is a senior scientist with the Institute of Mental Health Policy Research, and Addictions and Psychology Divisions at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She also serves as the director of research training at CAMH’s Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute.
Dr. Quilty completed a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research at CAMH and University of Toronto, focused on cognitive mechanisms of change during acute treatment for depression. She is registered as a psychologist by the College of Psychologists of Ontario and a certified cognitive behavioural therapist. Her research has been supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Ontario Brain Institute and CAMH Foundation.
Areas of Research
Dr. Lena Quilty has an applied program of research, with a focus on the role of personality and cognition in depression and substance use disorder.
Dr. Quilty has led and collaborated upon numerous treatment trials, investigating the efficacy and causal mechanisms underlying novel and standard psychological treatments for complex psychiatric concerns, frequently including cognitive behavioural therapy, motivational enhancement, and compatible approaches. After an initial focus on in-person cognitive behavioural therapy for depression, this work extended to digital interventions, including online and mobile interventions including cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness, cognitive retraining, and cognitive bias modification.
Dr. Quilty has also led and collaborated upon numerous cohort studies, investigating risk and resilience factors related to mental health outcomes, with a focus on cognitive and motivational factors and their links to real world functioning. This research integrates clinical and cognitive factors with peripheral and imaging biomarkers, as well as healthcare utilization and costs. In both treatment and cohort studies, she works closely with knowledge users and community organizations to ensure the relevance and impact of this work, with a focus on increased access to evidence-based prevention and treatment programming within those who face barriers to standard care pathways.
Dr. Quilty has been actively involved in the development of guidelines, training, and other knowledge mobilization to increase the impact of this applied research on the health system. Her initiatives incorporate a consistent emphasis on knowledge user feedback, lived experience perspectives, knowledge mobilization, and evaluation throughout the research endeavor.
Publications
View Dr. Quilty's publications on PubMed.