Vijayakumar Seethapathy

Dr. Seethapathy has been a Clinical Assistant Professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry since 2014, and currently serves on the UBC Psychiatry Executive Committee. He is also the Oversight Director for the UBC Addiction Psychiatry Training Program. As the Chief Medical Officer at BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services (BCMHSUS), Dr. Seethapathy provides strategic and operational oversight for Forensic Psychiatry Services, Complex Concurrent Disorder Services, Correctional Health Services, and provincial specialized mental health and substance use programs. Dr. Seethapathy holds a Membership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK), is a Psychiatry Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and is certified in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Addiction Medicine. In 2025, he was named president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association for 2025-2026. He has extensive clinical expertise in the assessment and management of complex concurrent disorders, early psychosis intervention, and correctional psychiatry.

In addition to his medical qualifications, Dr. Seethapathy has completed advanced business and leadership training, including the Physician Leadership Program at the UBC Sauder School of Business and an Executive MBA in Healthcare from the UK. With over 20 years of senior leadership experience in healthcare across the UK and Canada, he has successfully led transformative service delivery and system innovations. Under his leadership, BCMHSUS was awarded “Accreditation with Exemplary Standing.”

A passionate advocate for medical education, Dr. Seethapathy founded the Annual BC Concurrent Disorders Conference and is a founding Director of the Canadian Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (CAAP). He is a frequent contributor to regional and national committees, providing expert guidance on policy development and program initiatives to transform care delivery. He also engages with the public through various media outlets. Dr. Seethapathy is actively involved in professional leadership, serving on the Boards of the Canadian Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, BC Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Psychiatric Association, where he is the current President. His contributions have been recognized with the “Lifetime Community Service Award” from the BC Psychiatric Association, awarded by his peers. Dr. Seethapathy is committed to driving system transformation through innovation, best practices, and a strong focus on learning. His work continues to make a lasting impact on mental health and substance use system of care.

Dr. Seethapathy has pioneered several groundbreaking initiatives to address gaps in mental health and
substance use services. These include:

• Establishing the 24/7 Access and Assessment Centre for mental health crisis care.
• Founding the award-winning Assertive Outreach Team in Vancouver.
• Leading the development of the Enhanced Care Unit at the Redfish Centre for Mental Health and
  Addiction to support clients with complex concurrent disorders.
• Creating the Enhanced Secure Care Unit, addressing critical gaps in the civil forensic continuum.
• Developing the first Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) team in Western Canada.
• Developing the first MH designated in patient unit with in Provincial Correctional facility