Claire De Souza

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
Department of Psychiatry

Project Investigator
SickKids Research Institute

Dr. De Souza is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Medical Director of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service at SickKids, and Project Investigator with the Research Institute. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto (UofT). She holds a position of President of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CACAP). She is a board member of the Canadian Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (CAPM). She is the founding chair of the Paediatric Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry in Canada network.

At U of T, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree with high distinction, a medical degree with Honours and completed a Psychiatry residency. She has subspecialty certification in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

She has been involved with optimizing service delivery through programmatic changes and protocol development to improve care for children and adolescents with medical and psychiatric conditions, including those with somatization. She is collaborating on care pathways with colleagues in North America.

She is actively involved in education and has collaborated on courses in communication and clinician well-being. She has presented at local, national and international conferences as well as at family education days.

She received the CACAP Excellence in Education Award in 2017 and the Association for Academic Psychiatry Junior Faculty Award in 2012.

1. Saunders, N. R. Gandhi, S., Chen, S., Vigod, S., Fung, K., De Souza, C., Saab, H., & Kurdyak, P. Health Care Use and Costs of Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults With Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders. JAMA Network Open. 2020;3(7):e2011295. DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.11295
2. Ansari, H., Santiago-Jiménez, M., Saab, H., De Souza, C., Szatmari, P., Monga, S. Association Between Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders and Hospital Resource Utilization in Physically Ill Pediatric Inpatients: A Case-matched Analysis.  Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry - in press.
3. Silver G, Kearney J, Bora S, De Souza C, Giles L, Hryko S, Jenkins W, Malas N, Namerow L, Ortiz-Aguayo R, Russell R, Pao M, Plioplys S, Brahmbhatt K and the Pathways for Clinical Care Workgroup. A Clinical Pathway to Standardize Care of Children with Delirium in Pediatric Inpatient Settings. Hospital Pediatrics 2019: 9(11): 1-8; S11-16.
4. Ibeziako, P, Brahmbhatt, K, Chapman, A, De Souza, C, Giles, L, Gooden, S, Latif, F, Malas, N, Namerow, L, Russell, R, Steinbuchel, P, Pao, M, Plioplys, S. Developing a Clinical Pathway for Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders in Pediatric Hospital Settings. Hospital Pediatrics 2019: 9(3); 1-9. DOI: 10.1542/hpeds.2018-0205 
5. De Souza C. Chapter 16. Administrative and Financing models in Pediatric Psychosomatic Medicine: A Global, Healthcare Systems-Focused, and Problem-Based Approach. Springer textbook. Ed: A Guerrero, N Skokauskas, and P Lee; 2018