Dr. Stephanie Cassin C.Psych.

Biography

Dr. Cassin is a Professor and the Director of the Healthy Eating and Lifestyle (HEAL) Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University. In addition, she holds a faculty appointment at the University of Toronto (Department of Psychiatry) and is a member of the University Health Network Centre for Mental Health.  She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Calgary and completed an accredited internship at the University of British Columbia / Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. She subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Mood and Anxiety Treatment and Research Program).  Prior to joining the Department of Psychology at TMU, she held staff clinical psychologist positions in the Mood and Anxiety Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the Bariatric Surgery Program at University Health Network. 

Dr. Cassin is a Registered Clinical and Health Psychologist with clinical and research interests in the areas of disordered eating, obesity, and bariatric surgery. Her current program of research focuses primarily on psychosocial predictors of bariatric surgery outcome, and psychosocial interventions with the potential to improve outcomes, including cognitive behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing.  She also investigates health care innovations that increase treatment accessibility.

Dr. Cassin is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and Canadian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies. She is also co-Lead of Project ECHO Ontario CBT (a virtual professional development program that aims to build capacity in CBT and develop sustainable communities of practice). She has taught a variety of courses related to clinical and health psychology at TMU (Psychological Disorders, Clinical Psychology, Advanced Clinical Psychology Seminar, Eating Disorders, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). She has also provided clinical supervision to many clinical psychology practicum students at the Psychology Training Clinic, which is a partnership between Toronto Metropolitan University and Unity Health Toronto.

Selected Publications

Santiago, V. A., & Cassin, S. E. (2026). The MotivATE randomized controlled trial: Treating food addiction with adapted motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy versus a waitlist control condition. Journal of Eating Disorders (external link) , 14, 56.

Tahir, U., Park, K., Cassin, S. E., & Sockalingam, S. (2025). Moving towards precision-based care in bariatric surgery: Predictors of response to telephone cognitive behavioral therapy. Obesity Surgery (external link) , 35, 5462-5470.

Cassin, S. E., Park, K., Leung, S. E., Ma, C., Tomlinson, G., Hawa, R., Wnuk, S., Jackson, T., Urbach, D., Okrainec, A., Brown, J., Sandre, D., & Sockalingam, S. (2025). A randomized controlled trial examining telephone-based cognitive behavioural therapy for patients after metabolic and bariatric surgery: 18-month follow-up results. Obesity Surgery (external link) , 35, 4103-4113.

Molnar, M., Snaychuk, L., & Cassin, S. E. (2025). What is the effect of attributing disordered eating behaviours to food addiction versus binge eating disorder? An experimental study comparing the impact on weight-based and mental illness stigma. Nutrients (external link) , 17(13), 2217.

Montemarano, V., Firasta, L., Deska, J., & Cassin, S. E. (2025). Cognitive dissonance for weight stigma reduction: The development and effect of a counter-attitudinal advocacy intervention. Clinical Obesity (external link) , 15, e70024.

Roorda, B., & Cassin, S. E. (2025). A review of food-related social media and its relationship to body image and disordered eating. Nutrients (external link) , 17, 342.

Sockalingam, S., Leung, S. E., Clement, M., Hawa, R., Wnuk, S., Jackson, T., Urbach, D., Brown, J., Sandre, D., & Cassin, S. E. (2023). Telephone-based cognitive behavioural therapy for weight loss, disordered eating, and psychological distress after bariatric surgery: A multisite randomized clinical trial. JAMA Open (external link) , 6(8), e2327099.

Santiago, V. A., & Cassin, S. E. (2022). Social and occupational impairment among individuals with ultra-processed food addiction. Current Addiction Reports (external link) , 9, 307-317.

Montemarano, V. & Cassin, S. E. (2021).  The effect of a food addiction explanatory model of eating behaviours on weight-based stigma: An experimental investigation.  Eating Behaviours (external link) , 41, 101507. 

Santiago, V., A., Cassin, S. E., Wnuk, S., Du, C., Hawa, R., Parikh, S. V., & Sockalingam, S. (2021).  “If you’re offered help, take it”: Bariatric patients’ experience of telephone-based cognitive behavioural therapy. Clinical Obesity (external link) , 11(2), e12431. 

Cassin, S. E., Leung, S. E., Hawa, R., Wnuk, S., Jackson, T., & Sockalingam, S. (2020).  Food addiction is associated with binge eating and psychiatric distress among post-operative bariatric surgery patients and may improve in response to cognitive behavioural therapy. Nutrients (external link) , 12, 2905. 

David, L. A., Sijercic, I., & Cassin, S. E. (2020).  Pre- and post-operative psychosocial interventions for bariatric surgery patients: A systematic review. Obesity Reviews (external link) , 21(4), e12926.

Cassin, S. E., Sijercic, I., & Montemarano, V. (2020).  Psychosocial interventions for food addiction: A systematic review. Current Addiction Reports (external link) , 7(1), 9-19. 

Cassin, S. E., Buchman, D. Z., Leung, S. E., Kantarovich, K., Hawa, A., Carter, A., & Sockalingam, S. (2019).  Ethical, stigma, and policy implications of food addiction: A scoping review. Nutrients (external link) , 11, 701.

Cassin, S. E., Hawa, R., & Sockalingam, S. (2018).  Psychological care in severe obesity: A practical approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (external link) .

David, L., Sockalingam, S., Wnuk, S., & Cassin, S. E. (2016).  A pilot randomized controlled trial examining the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of adapted motivational interviewing for post-operative bariatric surgery patients. Eating Behaviors (external link) , 22, 87-92.

Cassin, S. E., Sockalingam, S., Du, C., Wnuk, S., Hawa, R., & Parikh, S. (2016).  A pilot randomized controlled trial of telephone-based cognitive behavioural therapy for preoperative bariatric surgery patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 80 (external link) , 17-22.

Cassin, S. E., Sockalingam, S., Wnuk, S., Strimas, R., Royal, S., Hawa, R. & Parikh, S. (2013). Cognitive behavioural therapy for bariatric surgery patients: Preliminary evidence for feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice (external link) , 20, 529-543.

Cassin, S. E., von Ranson, K. M., Heng, K., Brar, J., & Wojtowicz, A. E. (2008). Adapted motivational interviewing for women with binge eating disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (external link) , 22, 417-425.

Cassin, S. E., & von Ranson, K. M. (2007).  Is binge eating experienced as an addiction? Appetite (external link) , 49, 687-690.