Anthony Feinstein

Anthony Feinstein (born December 14, 1956) is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto 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.

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.[1]

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. His research has been funded by MS Canada, the Canadian Institute of Health Research and the Progressive MS Alliance.[2]

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. Since then, he has completed studies investigating how journalists have been affected by the attacks of 9/11 in New York, the 2003 war in Iraq, the drug wars in Mexico, the 2007 election violence and Al-Shabab attack on the Westgate Mall in Kenya, the Civil War in Syria 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.

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. In 2023, he was honored with the Giants of Multiple Sclerosis Award by the Consortium of MS Centres and NeurologyLive. A documentary, Journalists Under Fire, 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 was long-listed for a 2016 EPPY Award.

Films

• A Quiet Courage: Afghan Journalists in a Time of Terror – Director, Producer, Writer

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

Books

• In Conflict (New Namibia Books, 1998, )
• The Clinical Neuropsychiatry of Multiple Sclerosis (Cambridge University Press, 1999; second edition 2007, )
• Dangerous Lives: War and the Men and Women Who Report It (Thomas Allen Publishers, 2003, )
• Michael Rabin, America's Virtuoso Violinist (Amadeus Press, 2005; second edition 2011, ) Second Edition – paperback (2011). Audiobook (2017)
• Journalists Under Fire: the Psychological Hazards of Covering War (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006, )
• Battle Scarred (Tafelberg Press, 2011, )
• Shooting War: 18 Profiles of Conflict Photographers (Glitterati/G Editions, 2018, )
• Moral Courage: 19 Profiles of Investigative Journalists (G Editions/Glitterati, 2023, )
• Behavioral Consequences of Multiple Sclerosis (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022, ) Audiobook (2025)

Media

• Shooting War: Paying homage to 12 conflict photographers – Series of articles for The Globe and Mail.

External links

• Anthony Feinstein at IMDb