Department Head: Dr. Lakshmi Yatham
Dr. Yatham, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, is also the Regional Head of Psychiatry and Regional Program Medical Director for Mental Health and Addictions at Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care.
He has held leadership positions for national and international professional organizations including President of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, and is now the President of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). Dr. Yatham’s major areas of research interest include neurobiology and treatment of bipolar disorder and major depression.
Associate Head, Research & International Affairs: Dr. Sophia Frangou
Dr. Frangou will be responsible for providing strategic leadership in promoting excellence in research in the Department and in building the international profile of the Department through establishment of partnerships and collaborations with various academic centers, institutes, and government agencies globally.
Dr. Frangou is a Professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry, and the President’s Excellence Chair in Brain Health at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, where she leads the Translational Neuroimaging and Clinical Neuroscience Program in Mental Health. Dr. Frangou has authored more than 250 scientific papers that have attracted over 16,000 citations. Her work has been internationally recognised and she is the recipient of the 2019 Colvin Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Mood Disorders Research.
Associate Head, Postgraduate Education & CPD: Dr. Jordan Cohen
Dr. Cohen will be responsible for providing strategic leadership for Postgraduate Education in Psychiatry, including subspecialty programs, as well as development and implementation of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs for the Department.
Dr. Cohen was appointed as a Clinical Associate Professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry in 2016, and prior to this, he was a clinical faculty member in Department of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary. There, he served in a number of key leadership roles, including as the Director of Student Affairs for the Cumming School of Medicine, then as the Postgraduate Psychiatry Program Director for a seven-year term. Soon after his arrival at UBC, Dr. Cohen was appointed as the PGE Discipline Specific Site Leader (DSSL) at Lion’s Gate Hospital, a role in which he had been instrumental in supporting residents in their rotations at this site.
Associate Head, Clinical Affairs & Partnerships: Dr. Anson Koo
Dr. Koo will be responsible for providing strategic leadership related to clinical faculty issues and partnerships with Health Authorities, the Ministries of Health and of Mental Health & Addictions, Mental Health advocacy groups and other relevant stakeholders.
Dr. Koo is a Clinical Associate Professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry, and the Program Medical Director, the Regional Department Head, and the Head of Academic Psychiatry for the Mental Health and Substance Use Program in the Fraser Health Authority (FHA). In his regional medical administrative roles, Dr. Koo has provided strategic and operational medical leadership during a period of significant service expansion within Fraser Health in both the mental health and addiction medicine programs. Dr. Koo is actively involved in UBC Department of Psychiatry education programs and, as Academic Psychiatry Lead for FHA, he has developed a regional network of teaching sites and academic faculty, expanding psychiatric medical education across the Fraser Health Authority.
Associate Head, Graduate & Undergraduate Medical Education: Dr. Raymond Lam
Dr. Lam will be responsible for providing strategic leadership in the development and implementation, as well as oversight on all aspects of the Graduate and Undergraduate Medical Programs related to Psychiatry.
Dr. Lam is a Professor and BC Leadership Chair in Depression Research in the UBC Department of Psychiatry, and the head of the Mood Disorders Centre at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health at UBC. Dr. Lam is a lead investigator for the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression (canbind.ca), and his depression research encompasses clinical trials, biomarkers and eHealth technologies. He is active in global mental health as Executive Director for the APEC Digital Hub for Mental Health (mentalhealth.apec.org) hosted at UBC, and Principal Investigator for the CIHR-funded EMBED Study (embedstudy.ca) of measurement-based care for depression in Shanghai.