Brain and Obesity

Question and Answer Period - Neuroscience of Cognition and Reward Implications for Obesity: The Neuroscience Perspective

Sanjeev Sockalingam, MD, MHPE, FRCPC
Vice President, Education
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON

Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingam is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and the Director of the Bariatric Surgery Psychosocial Program at the Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network. He is a Clinician Scientist and Vice President of Education at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is Vice-Chair, Education for Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He is also the Co-Chair of ECHO Ontario Mental Health, which is a provincial hub-and-spoke knowledge network.

Dr. Sockalingam has more than 190 peer-reviewed publications and is the co-editor of the books, “Psychiatric Care in Severe Obesity”, a comprehensive summary of an integrated approach to the assessment and managing psychosocial care in severe obesity, and a newly released book by Cambridge University Press, “Psychological Care in Severe Obesity: A Practical Approach”. He has funding from CIHR and other peer-reviewed agencies examining psychosocial outcomes related to obesity care, psychological treatments for obesity and exploring the construct of food addiction.  He is the co-principal investigator on a large multi-site CIHR funded to evaluate the long-term outcomes of telephone-based cognitive behavioural therapy after bariatric surgery. Dr. Sockalingam is a co-author on the 2020 Canadian Obesity Guidelines. His knowledge translation and education research focuses implementation of mental health capacity building using technology and data-informed lifelong learning. He has been the recipient of several national and international education awards including the 2018 Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP) Alan Stoudemire Award for Innovation for Excellence in C-L Psychiatry Education, the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry of Canada Award for Excellence in Education, and the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education David Davis Research Award in CME.