Dear Staff, Fellows, Residents, and Colleagues,
I am delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. John-Jose Nunez to the UBC Department of Psychiatry at the rank of Assistant Professor (Partner), effective September 29, 2025.
Dr. Nunez is a psychiatrist and clinical researcher whose work bridges psychiatry and computer science, with a focus on using computational approaches including artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing to improve mental health outcomes. He holds an MD and MSc in Computer Science from UBC, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (Psychiatry). Dr. Nunez is also the Associate Medical Director of Supportive Care at BC Cancer.
Having completed his residency within the Department’s Research Track, Dr. Nunez was then a two-time IMH Marshall Fellow (2022/23 and 2023/24), supported by the UBC Institute of Mental Health and the BC Cancer Foundation. His fellowship projects applied digital tools and natural language processing to predict recurrence of depression and to identify cancer patients at risk of mental illness. Following his IMH fellowship, he was appointed as a Clinical Instructor with the Department in 2024. His innovative work serves to position UBC Psychiatry as a leader in computational psychiatry.
He has held fellowships at both the UBC Mood Disorders Centre and BC Cancer, where his research has addressed complex challenges at the intersection of cancer care and mood disorders. During his psychiatry residency, Dr. Nunez completed a master’s degree in computer science, gaining expertise in machine learning with structured data and natural language processing of clinical documents.
His research accomplishments include more than 20 publications, a textbook chapter, and recent invitations to present keynotes at international conferences in both mood disorders and oncology. His papers in JAMA Network Open and Communications Medicine received international recognition and media coverage. He is also a member of Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial issues in Bipolar Disorder (CREST.BD), the International Society for Bipolar Disorder, the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression, and the Multinational Association for Supportive Cancer Care, further strengthening the Department’s collaborative research networks.
Please join me in warmly congratulating Dr. Nunez on his appointment and welcoming him to his new faculty role in the Department. We wish him much success as he continues to build his research program at the interface of psychiatry, computer science and oncology.
Sincerely,
Dr. Lakshmi N. Yatham
MBBS, FRCPC, MRCPsych (UK), MBA (Exec)
Professor and Head, UBC Department of Psychiatry
Director, Institute of Mental Health, UBC
Regional Head and Program Medical Director, VCH/PHC
The UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office at the UBC Vancouver Campus respectfully acknowledges the land on which we live, work and play is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh).