Dr. Sandra Antochi

Dr. Sandra Antochi has been an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa since 2004. She is a Physician Scientist and Co-Investigator at the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR), Lead for Interim Education and Program Development at the rTMS Clinic within the Neuromodulation Unit of the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group (ROHCG), and a Clinician Investigator in Neuroscience at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH). Dr. Antochi has contributed to more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

Since January 2025, Dr. Sandra Antochi has been working at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre (ROMHC) in the Operational Stress Injury Clinic, in addition to her role in the Neuromodulation Research Unit, which she joined in 2023. She has also been a member of the Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) service at ROMHC since 2004. From 2003-2025, Dr. Antochi held clinical and academic appointments at The Ottawa Hospital, where she practiced in inpatient and outpatient psychiatry, as well as the Eating Disorder Program (2019–2025). She also provided psychiatric care for the Department of National Defence and the Government of Canada from 2022-2025. Her clinical practice spans inpatient and outpatient psychiatry, eating disorders, ECT, rTMS research, and mental health care for military, veteran, and RCMP populations. She has further developed expertise in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) in both individual and group settings.

Dr. Antochi is the inaugural Fellowship Director in Interventional Psychiatry at ROMHC/IMHR, University of Ottawa, a program launched for the 2025–2026 academic year. From 2022 to 2025, she served as Co-Fellowship Director and Co-Founder of the Fellowship in Eating Disorders at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH), jointly with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and the University of Ottawa. She is also Founding Faculty (2013) and Co-Director (2023) of the University of Ottawa’s Simulation-Based Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Course for Practitioners. This program, the world’s first simulation-based ECT course, combines lectures and workshops on core and advanced concepts of ECT practice and is delivered annually at the University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Centre through collaboration with TOH, ROMHC, and the U of O, providing additional training for practicing psychiatrists.

Since 2023, Dr. Antochi has been invited as Faculty Speaker on Eating Disorders and ECT at the E.K. Koranyi Annual National Review Course in Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa—an intensive review designed to prepare Canadian psychiatry residents for Royal College examinations and update practicing psychiatrists. In 2025, she introduced a new lecture on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) at the Koranyi course.

Dr. Antochi has held several administrative leadership roles in the Department of Mental Health at The Ottawa Hospital. She served as Head of the Division of General Psychiatry (2009–2014) and Assistant Director of the Mental Health Inpatient Program (2012–2017). From June 2021 to May 2023, she was Medical Director of the Regional Program for the Treatment of Eating Disorders (EDP), as well as Director of both the Inpatient and Outpatient Eating Disorders Programs at TOH. During her tenure in the EDP, she successfully led the development and approval of a proposal to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for the expansion of services to include Eating Disorders Readiness (EDR). This program provides psychoeducation, skills-based training, and self-management strategies for patients awaiting intensive treatment, aiming to reduce morbidity and mortality prior to acute care, enhance patient satisfaction, support outpatient and community providers offering interim medical monitoring, and potentially decrease the need for more intensive interventions for some patients.

Dr. Sandra Antochi completed an Honours B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Guelph (1994) and an M.D. at the University of Western Ontario (1998), followed by Psychiatry Residency training at the University of Ottawa (2003). She later pursued a Visiting Fellowship in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation at Duke University (2018) and completed Conflict Resolution courses at Cornell University (2023).