LCol (Retd) Alexandra Heber, MD, FRCPC, CCPE

Chief Psychiatrist, Veterans Affairs Canada

She has over 30 years of experience in mental health, first as a nurse, then as a psychiatrist. After a decade in Toronto coordinating the Women’s Program in the Clinic for HIV-Related Concerns at Mount Sinai Hospital, and working on an Assertive Community Treatment Team, Dr. Heber started working as a civilian psychiatrist for the Canadian Forces in 2003, then enrolled in the military in 2006. She deployed to Afghanistan as the Psychiatrist in Charge of the Canadian Forces Mental Health Services for Task Force Afghanistan in 2009. After retiring from the military, she accepted the position of inaugural Chief of Psychiatry for Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), where she became the VAC lead author on the 2017 CAF-VAC Joint Suicide Prevention Strategy. She has published and presented nationally and internationally on PTSD in the military and veteran population, and has designed two online courses on PTSD for health care professionals. Her current research interests include: suicide prevention, the military-civilian transition experience, effects of cannabis on mental health, outcome measurement in mental health treatment, and the effects of military sexual trauma.