Dr. Petal S. Abdool is a geriatric staff psychiatrist and associate scientist at the CAMH, and a consultation-liaison geriatric psychiatrist at Providence Healthcare/UHT. She is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and holds the role of assistant program director for International Medical Graduates since 2021.
In January 2022, Dr. Abdool was appointed as the inaugural medical director of the CAMH Simulation Centre — North America's first simulation centre dedicated to mental health training. She was subsequently appointed in September 2022 as the faculty lead for Simulation Education Integration with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is a graduate of the Centre for Faculty Development Education Scholars Program (2020–2022) and NEAL (2025-26).
Dr. Abdool's clinical work has included a long-standing collaboration with LOFT Community Services to provide supportive housing for homeless seniors living with severe mental illness.
Areas of Research
Dr. Abdool's research focuses on the use of simulation methodologies to advance teaching and assessment in medical education, with particular emphasis on mental health and geriatric psychiatry contexts. She has led innovative technology-enabled educational interventions, including immersive virtual reality (VR) training programs for suicide risk assessment and opioid overdose response — designed to build clinical competency and deepen empathy in health care learners.
Her work also encompasses the development and implementation of Integrated Care Pathways (ICPs) in psychiatry, with an aim to generate evidence supporting their efficacy in improving quality of care for older adults, including those living with late-life schizophrenia and major depression. She is a strong advocate of experiential and narrative-based learning strategies to help trainees connect more deeply with the lived experiences of patients.
Publications
View Dr. Abdool’s publications on Google Scholar.