Cindy Lee Dennis PhD

Dr. Cindy-Lee Dennis is a Professor at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto and holds a Canada Research Chair in Perinatal Community Health. Prior to this chair award, Dr. Dennis held a New Investigator Award from the national peer-reviewed funding council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and a provincial Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Career Scientist Award.

Dr. Cindy-Lee Dennis has a simple maxim: "Healthy babies start with healthy moms." This belief has lead Dr. Dennis to focus her overall program of research on the rigorous evaluation of interventions to directly improve maternal health, which indirectly enhances infant outcomes. Using her methodological expertise in randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and psychometric assessments, her specific areas of research focus include: (1) improving breastfeeding outcomes; (2) detecting, preventing and treating perinatal depression and anxiety; (3) examining the health of immigrant mothers and infants; and (4) developing postpartum interventions that include fathers.

Dr. Cindy-Lee Dennis has over 140 peer review publications and has the distinction of holding two research chairs. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Perinatal Community Health at the University of Toronto. At the Women’s College Research Institute, and in partnership with U of T’s psychiatry department and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Dr. Dennis holds the Shirley Brown Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research.