Assistant Professor, UBC Department of Psychiatry, Division of Neuroscience and Translational Psychiatry, and UBC School of Population and Public Health
Regional Lead Psychiatrist, Assertive Community Treatment, Province of BC
Scientist, Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences
Lecturer, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Member, Institute of Mental Health
Member, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health
Email: daniel.vigo@ubc.ca
Short Biography
Dr. Vigo is a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, and public health specialist, originally from Argentina. He is currently an Assistant Professor at UBC, a Lecturer at Harvard Medical School, an Advisor to PAHO and WHO, as well as the Chair of the Services and Policy Workgroup of the WHO-World Mental Health Surveys Initiative.
After obtaining a Bachelor’s+Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, an MD, and a University Specialization in Psychiatry, Dr. Daniel Vigo worked in clinical, research, teaching, and leadership positions across sectors (public hospitals, NGOs, and for-profit organizations). In these roles, he has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and reports on public health, health systems, global mental health, psychiatric epidemiology, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, and e-mental health. Dr. Vigo leads several projects in BC, Canada, and globally, including on e-Mental Health for University Students, Needs-Based Planning for Mental and Substance Use Disorder Services, Care Options for People with Severe Substance Use Disorders at Imminent Risk of Death and Disability, Estimating Coverage and Quality of Care for Mental Disorders, and Estimating the Disease Burden of Mental Disorders. He also developed the first Assertive Community Treatment Department in Argentina, a collaboration between Proyecto Suma, King’s College (UK) and Columbia University (US). Notably, his contribution to improving the estimation of the disease burden caused by mental illness is among the most impactful papers in the field of mental health in recent years.
Research Focus
Dr. Vigo leads several projects at UBC, including the Needs-Based Planning for Mental and Substance Use Disorder Project, the Student E-Mental Health Project, and several psychiatric epidemiology studies of regional, national, and global scope. The goal of his e-Mental Health portfolio (which includes CIHR and Health Canada funded projects) is to create, administer and evaluate online e-interventions and screening tools, as well as to integrate them with existing brick and mortar services. He is also working in collaboration with the Computer Science department to develop algorithms to predict the risk of developing mental and substance use disorders due to COVID-19. By using machine learning techniques and applying those to health service utilization data, the ultimate goal is to facilitate access to effective treatments. To that end, he has also received funding from a UBC SIF grant to develop a Virtual Clinic at the Department of Psychiatry in collaboration with Dr. Lakshmi Yatham and Dr. Sophia Frangou.
