Call for Founding Members | Canadian Psychiatric Association Section on Arts and Psychiatry

Call for Founding Members | Canadian Psychiatric Association Section on Arts and Psychiatry

Dear Faculty, Students, and Residents,

We invite CPA members with an interest in the creative side of psychiatry to join us in forming a new CPA Section on Arts and Psychiatry. In this context, the term “Arts” is used to reference a wide range of disciplines that involve imaginative, expressive or aesthetic creation and that encompass the following categories: the literary arts, the performing arts (such as theatre, dance, and music), the visual arts (such as painting, sculpture, and photography), the cinematic arts, and the digital arts.

What the Section will do

The proposed Terms of Reference are as follows:

  • To foster integration of the arts into psychiatric education, training, and clinical practice.
  • To explore how the arts can encourage and enhance empathy, reflection, narrative competence and diagnostic acumen.
  • To promote initiatives that involve collaboration between professionals in the arts and psychiatrists
  • To curate relevant arts-related sessions at the CPA Annual Meeting (such as film screenings, literary readings, and panel discussions)  
  • To advise the CPA on issues related to the arts and psychiatry, such as how the arts inform education, practice, and public engagement.

Next Steps

To formally launch the section, we need at least 50 CPA members to express support and interest. If you’d like to join as a founding member (no obligation to take on a leadership role), please email: Harry.Karlinsky@ubc.ca  and include your name, affiliation, and confirmation of CPA membership status. We especially welcome interest from psychiatry residents and medical students who are members of the CPA.


Sincerely,

Dr. Harry Karlinsky
Clinical Professor, UBC Department of Psychiatry
Series Director, Frames of Mind, presented by The Cinematheque and the Institute of Mental Health, UBC Department of Psychiatry.

Kanwar Sidhu

Maxwell Sucharov

UBC Psychiatry IT: Adobe Acrobat Pro Renewal Reminder

Dear Staff and Faculty,

If you are already an approved subscriber for the Adobe Acrobat Pro tool, please be on the lookout for the email shown below from noreply@kivuto.com, with the subject line “Your software subscription is expiring” and a link to renew your subscription. Please use the same worktag as the one appearing in the renewal link.

Eligibility for Department-covered Adobe Acrobat Pro subscription:

The following groups are eligible:

  • Full-time Academic Faculty (Employed by UBC)
  • Administrative/Research Staff (Employed by UBC)
  • Clinical Faculty in Administrative/Leadership Roles (Employed by UBC)

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to margaret.koshi@ubc.ca or simon.chong@ubc.ca.

Sincerely,

Margaret


Margaret Koshi (She, Her, Hers)
Director, Administration
Faculty of Medicine | Department of Psychiatry
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus | Musqueam Traditional Territory

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).

Congratulations to the 2025/2026 IMH Marshall Fellows Awardees!

Congratulations! | 2025/2026 IMH Marshall Fellows Awardees

Dear Faculty, Staff, Students, and Residents,

I am delighted to share that the selection process for the 2025/2026 IMH Marshall Fellows Program has been completed by the IMH Scientific Advisory, comprised of members across Canada and the U.S., which noted the many high-quality proposals submitted this year. Four awardees with innovative proposals were recommended for funding by the Chairs of the Committee.

As the decisions have now been finalized, it is with great pleasure that I announce the 2025/2026 cohort of the IMH Marshall Fellows Program.  Please join me in warmly congratulating the following awardees, listed in alphabetical order:

IMH Marshall Fellowship Awardees & Research Titles

Leena Chau, PhD: Development and randomized controlled trial evaluation of a culturally adapted digital mental health intervention for bipolar disorder

Laura Labonté, MD: Defining clinically meaningful change in psychotic symptoms to better understand consequences for people living in precarious housing or homelessness

Victor Li, MD: Clinical effects of methadone on depressive symptoms in patients with long-term opioid prescriptions

Rahele Mesbah, PhD: Early intervention for individuals at high risk for bipolar disorder: A randomized clinical trial

I encourage you to visit the IMH Marshall Fellows web page to learn more about each of our awardees and the exciting research they will be pursuing. I look forward to sharing further updates on our Fellows in the months to come.

On behalf of the Institute of Mental Health and the UBC Department of Psychiatry, I wish each of our 2025/2026 IMH Marshall Fellows much success as they gain valuable experience that will both accelerate their learning and serve as an important foundation for their future pursuits in translational mental health research.

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

Congratulations to the UBC Psychiatry Honorees Recognized at the 2025 FoM Ceremony on May 27!

Pictured from left to right: Dr. A. Donald Milliken, Dr. Ronald Gibson, Dr. Shao-Hua Lu, Dr. Lakshmi Yatham, Dr. Dermot Kelleher, Dr. Alan Bates, Dr. Nickie Mathew, Dr. Kerry Jang.

The 2025 Faculty of Medicine Academic Gowns and Emeriti Recognition Ceremony was held on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, where the following UBC Psychiatry members were honoured for their career milestones:

PROMOTION TO CLINICAL PROFESSOR

  • Dr. Alan Bates, Clinical Professor
  • Dr. Sean Flynn, Clinical Professor
  • Dr. Shao-Hua Lu, Clinical Professor
  • Dr. Nickie Mathew, Clinical Professor
  • Dr. Andrew Howard, Clinical Professor (Regrets)
    Dr. Ashok Krishnamoorthy, Clinical Professor (Regrets)
    Dr. Anton Scamvougeras, Clinical Professor (Regrets)
    Dr. Edwin Tam, Clinical Professor (Regrets)

CONFERRAL OF EMERITUS

  • Dr.  Ronald Gibson, Clinical Associate Professor Emeritus
  • Dr. Kerry Jang, Professor Emeritus
  • Dr.  A. Donald Milliken, Clinical Professor Emeritus
     

Congratulations to these honorees on their well-deserved recognition from the UBC Faculty of Medicine!

Congratulations to the UBC Psychiatry Honorees Recognized at the 2025 FoM Ceremony on May 27!

Matteo Respino

Megan Young