Anthony Feinstein

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Anthony Feinstein (born December 14, 1956) is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto [1] and a neuropsychiatrist. His research and clinical work focuses on people with multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and Conversion Disorder. He has undertaken a number of studies investigating how front-line journalists are affected by their work covering war and man-made and natural disasters.

Contents

Education

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Feinstein received his medical degree from the University of Witwatersrand. He completed his Psychiatry training at the Royal Free Hospital in London, England. His MPhil and PhD degrees were obtained through the University of London. After obtaining his PhD, he worked as a Senior Registrar at the Maudsley Hospital in London before taking up an appointment at the University of Toronto where he is currently a professor of psychiatry and a clinician scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute.]

Multiple sclerosis

Over a three decade period, Feinstein's work has focused on determining brain imaging correlates of depression and pseudobulbar affect in people with MS. He has also developed computerized methods of detecting cognitive dysfunction, with a particular emphasis on the use of distracters. A third strand to his MS work relates to defining the cognitive and functional neuroimaging changes associated with the use of cannabis (marijuana) in people with MS. [2] [3] His research has been funded by MS Canada, the Canadian Institute of Health Research and the Progressive MS Alliance.]

Journalism work

In 2000 Feinstein obtained a grant from the Freedom Forum in Washington, D.C. to undertake the first study exploring how war can affect the psychological wellbeing of front-line journalists. The results were subsequently published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. [4] Since then, he has completed studies investigating how journalists have been affected by the attacks of 9/11 in New York, [5] the 2003 war in Iraq, [6] the drug wars in Mexico,[ citation needed ] the 2007 election violence and Al-Shabab attack on the Westgate Mall in Kenya, [7] the Civil War in Syria [6] and state-sponsored violence directed towards the media in Iran the refugee crisis in Europe, Afghanistan (pre-Taliban), and online harassment. His team has developed the first psychometric scale for moral Injury in Journalism. [8]

Awards

Dr. Feinstein was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2000 to study mental health problems in post-apartheid Namibia. In 2019, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre MDMSA. [9] In 2023, he was honored with the Giants of Multiple Sclerosis Award by the Consortium of MS Centres and NeurologyLive. [10] A documentary, Journalists Under Fire, [11] based on his work with war journalists, produced by him (and directed by Martyn Burke), was short-listed for an Academy Award and won a 2012 Peabody Award. His series of articles for The Globe & Mail on conflict photography [12] was long-listed for a 2016 EPPY Award. [13]

Films

NewsFest International Film Festival, Las Vegas, USA (July 31, 2021) – *Winner: Best International News Story/Public Information* and *Best First Film (International)*. [14]

Books

Media

Journalism publications

Multiple sclerosis publications

References

  1. "Anthony Feinstein - Sunnybrook Research Institute". sunnybrook.ca.
  2. "Anthony Feinstein - Google Scholar Citations". google.com.
  3. Pavisian, Bennis; MacIntosh, Bradley J.; Szilagyi, Greg; Staines, Richard W.; O'Connor, Paul; Feinstein, Anthony (27 May 2014). "Effects of cannabis on cognition in patients with MS A psychometric and MRI study". Neurology. 82 (21): 1879–1887. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000000446. PMC   4105254 . PMID   24789863.
  4. Feinstein, Anthony; Owen, John; Blair, Nancy (2002). "A Hazardous Profession: War, Journalists, and Psychopathology". American Journal of Psychiatry. 159 (9): 1570–1575. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.9.1570. PMID   12202279.
  5. Feinstein, Anthony; Audet, Blair; Waknine, Elizabeth (1 August 2014). "Witnessing images of extreme violence: a psychological study of journalists in the newsroom". JRSM Open. 5 (8): 2054270414533323. doi:10.1177/2054270414533323. PMC   4100239 . PMID   25289144.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  6. 1 2 "Dr. Anthony Feinstein on war, conflict and "why journalism is undoubtedly more dangerous today"". utoronto.ca.
  7. Ruvaga, Lenny (February 2016). "Kenyan Journalists Covering Violence Lack PTSD Support". Voice of America.
  8. Osmann, Jonas; Page-Gould, Elizabeth; Inbar, Yoel; Dvorkin, Jeffrey; Walmsley, David; Feinstein, Anthony (2024). "Validation of the Toronto Moral Injury Scale for Journalists". Traumatology. 30 (2): 133–142. doi:10.1037/trm0000409.
  9. "Distinguished Service Award – Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre MDMSA". No publicly available record located.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  10. "2023 Giants of Multiple Sclerosis Award Winners". NeurologyLive. 2023. Retrieved 2025-09-15.
  11. "Watch UNDER FIRE: JOURNALISTS IN COMBAT Online - Vimeo On Demand". vimeo.com. 2011-11-02.
  12. "Shooting War: Paying homage to 12 conflict photographers". tgam.ca.
  13. "Editor & Publisher Announces the 2016 EPPY Award Finalists – Editor & Publisher". editorandpublisher.com.
  14. "NewsFest International Film Festival 2021 Winners". NewsFest. 31 July 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  15. "Shooting War: Paying homage to 12 conflict photographers". The Globe and Mail. 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2025.