Anthony Feinstein is a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and past Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee of the MS Society of Canada. His MS research has focused on determining cerebral correlates of depression and disorders of affect, the use of computers and distracters in eliciting cognitive dysfunction, and the behavioral effects of cannabis and the mechanisms underlying these behaviours. He is currently lead investigator on the CogEx trail, a six-country study determining the efficacy of treating cognitive impairment in people with progressive MS using high intensity aerobic exercise and cognitive rehabilitation.
A second strand to his research relates to the study of journalists in conflict situations. He has published a series of studies exploring the psychological effects of conflict on journalists covering the Balkans, Iraq, Mexico, Syria, Kenya, Iran, Afghanistan, the refugee crisis in Europe and the aftermath of the 9/11 attack on New York City. He currently consults to a number of news organizations including the Globe and Mail, CNN, the New York Times and Agence France Press.
Dr. Feinstein is the author of In Conflict (New Namibia Books, 1998), Dangerous Lives: War and the Men and Women Who Report It (Thomas Allen, Toronto 2003), The Clinical Neuropsychiatry of Multiple Sclerosis (Cambridge University Press 1999, with a second edition in 2007), Michael Rabin, America’s Virtuoso Violinist (Amadeus Press, 2005, second edition, 2011; audiobook, 2017), Journalists Under Fire: the Psychological Hazards of Covering War (John Hopkins University Press, 2006), Battle Scarred (Tafelberg Press, 2011), Shooting War (Glitterati Editions, 2018) and Mind, Mood and Memory in Multiple Sclerosis (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022). He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and has authored many book chapters.
In 2000-2001 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study mental health issues in post-apartheid Namibia. In 2012, he produced a documentary, “Under Fire” based on his research of journalists in war zones. It was longlisted for an Academy Award and won a Peabody Award.