Dr. Sabina Abidi is a Full Professor with the Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is Associate Chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Dalhousie University and Physician Lead of Ambulatory Services for the IWK Mental Health and Addictions Program where she has been working as a child/adolescent psychiatrist for 19 years.

Dr. Abidi’s clinical passion lies in the work of early identification and treatment of psychotic spectrum disorders in youth; she developed and leads the IWK Youth Psychosis Clinic where she provides assessment and intervention for those with the earliest onset of serious psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia. She is leading clinical, research and policy development initiatives across the province and nationally to further this cause and led the publication of Canadian guidelines for pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia in children & adolescents.

Dr. Abidi is also the physician lead for the implementation of lean medicine initiatives for child/adolescent mental health services across the province of Nova Scotia system change and continuous improvement of service delivery as her goals. Seeking improved models of intervention that addresses the unique mental health needs of youth and families is key to this work.