As Canada’s foremost eating disorder prevention researcher, Gail McVey is an internationally recognized expert in prevention science and its application to mental health interventions at all stages of life.
McVey is a psychologist and health systems research scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children, with an appointment as a senior associate scientist with the Research Institute. She is director of the Ontario Community Outreach Program for Eating Disorders, a community-based clinical training program in evidence-based treatment and prevention of eating disorders, where she led the development of a first-of-its-kind provincial network of specialized eating disorder service providers. She also serves as associate professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
McVey has carried out a 17-year program of community-based intervention research and published longitudinal studies on the prevention of eating disorders, linking her findings to public health practice and policy. Her program of research, supported by a Mid-Career Personnel Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and an Ontario Mental Health Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship earned McVey the Paul Christie Memorial Prize in recognition of outstanding research carried out in the field of mental health. Throughout the cycle of intervention research, attention is given to program development, community capacity building and partnership development as well as implementation and knowledge translation planning. McVey’s expertise has allowed her the opportunity to advise provincial resource centres, governments and provincial health authorities across Canada on matters related to mental health promotion and school-based mental health intervention research. McVey also provides expert input to public health practitioners, health educators, service providers, community-based coalitions and government on curriculum, program and policy development related to mental health, body image, eating disorders, healthy eating and healthy living.
McVey is the recipient of the US National Eating Disorders Association’s Lori Irving Award for Excellence in Eating Disorders Prevention and Awareness and has been distinguished as fellow by the International Academy of Eating Disorders in recognition of her distinguished contributions in research-based scholarship, clinical practice and advocacy. McVey’s leadership and expertise in the area of eating disorders has been formally recognized by the Ontario Government – including the Ontario Premier’s Office and the Ontario Ministry of Long Term Care and by her clinician colleagues who work within the provincial network of specialized eating disorder services.