Dr. Allison Crawford, MD, PhD is the Chief Medical Officer for 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline (www.988.ca), the national suicide prevention service launched on November 30, 2023. Allison is a psychiatrist and senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

Allison’s work has received recognition through the CIHR’s Robyn Tamblyn Health Services and Policy Researcher Innovator Award (2025); a Health Hero award from Best Health Magazine (2023); Fulbright Research Chair in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University (2022); and a Top 10 Women Leaders in Digital Health Award by Digital Health Canada (2021).

A key focus of Allison’s work is improving access and equity in mental health care, including research on digital health. Allison has worked as a psychiatrist in Nunavut for over 15 years. She has consulted to the Federal Government in the area of suicide prevention and to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami on the National Inuit Suicide Prevention Strategy. She also works with the Arctic Council Sustainable Development Working Group on circumpolar wellness and suicide prevention initiatives.

Allison also has a PhD in English Literature and brings the arts into health research. She founded HeART Lab, for health equity through art, research and technology (www.HealthEquityART.com), and is Editor-in-Chief of Ars Medica, journal of medicine, the arts, and humanities (www.ars-medica.ca).