Dear Colleagues,
It is with profound sadness that I share the news that Professor Emeritus Dr. William (Bill) Piper passed away last week at the age of 77. As many of you are aware, Dr. Piper was a very highly respected researcher and colleague in the UBC Department of Psychiatry and across the broader mental health community. He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of impact and achievement, particularly in the area of psychotherapy, and the loss of Dr. Piper will be felt deeply amongst his many colleagues and friends at UBC and beyond.
Dr. Piper’s distinguished academic career began at McGill in 1973, where he was first appointed as an Assistant Professor following his PhD training at the University of Connecticut and practice in clinical psychology with the US Navy. At McGill, he was promoted to Associate Professor prior to transferring in 1985 to the University of Alberta, where he remained until 1997 when he was appointed in the UBC Department of Psychiatry as a full Professor.
As an extremely dedicated and highly engaged member of our faculty, Dr. Piper was a passionate and vocal champion for psychotherapy, which was still a fledgling field in our Department in the 1990s. His vision and advocacy led to the establishment of the UBC Psychotherapy Program, for which he served as Founding Director for many years. Importantly, it was under his leadership that the Program flourished over the years into a thriving academic unit that supported innovative research, clinical services, as well as an integral component of psychiatry residency training at UBC.
As a researcher, Dr. Piper was internationally renowned for his outstanding contributions to psychotherapy, specifically in understanding the interplay between patient characteristics and therapy outcome, and was among the world’s foremost investigators in this area. He produced a long list of publications, many of which were published in highly ranked journals such as Archives of General Psychiatry, and also co-authored several books and numerous book chapters. His many achievements were duly recognized in the form of prestigious awards and honours, including the Distinguished Research Career Award from the Society for Psychotherapy Research, as well as inductions as a Fellow to the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Group Psychotherapy Association, and as a Distinguished Fellow to the American Group Psychotherapy Association.
Prior to his formal retirement in 2011, Dr. Piper was a constant fixture and a welcome presence in the offices and halls of UBC Hospital, and later, at the David Strangway Building. His UBC colleagues will fondly remember Dr. Piper for his kindness, graciousness and collegiality, and the generous mentorship he provided to many junior colleagues, students and trainees. The loss of Dr. Piper will also surely resonate across his wider circle of friends and peers with whom he had built productive and lasting relationships. Needless to say, Dr. Piper will be deeply missed by us all.
As the Department wishes to honour Dr. Piper’s memory and celebrate his many important contributions to the UBC Psychotherapy Program, including his leadership in founding the Program, the existing UBC Psychiatry Postgraduate Psychotherapy Award will be renamed and henceforth entitled the Dr. William E. Piper Memorial Award in Psychotherapy. This award will continue to recognize, on an annual basis, residents who have demonstrated strong interest and outstanding development in the area of psychotherapy.
On behalf of the UBC Department of Psychiatry, I send my sincerest condolences to his wife, Martha, and the rest of the Piper family during this most difficult time.
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 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).