Professor Trevor Young Named Dean of Medicine

Professor Trevor Young, Chair of U of T’s Department of Psychiatry, has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Medicine for a five-year term effective January 1, 2015. Young will also serve as the University’s Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions for a concurrent term. He succeeds Professor Catharine Whiteside who has led the Faculty since 2005.

“We are delighted that Professor Young will be leading the University’s internationally renowned Faculty of Medicine,” said President Meric Gertler. “Professor Young’s outstanding record of contributions in clinical practice, research, and administration make him ideally suited to this role, and I look forward to working with him.”

The former Cameron Wilson Chair in Depression Studies at the University of Toronto is also a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Professor Young is a clinician-scientist and maintains an active program of research on the molecular basis of mood disorders and their treatment, and how to apply these findings to a clinical setting. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, a Senior Fellow of Massey College and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

“I am honoured and excited to accept this position as the head of the country’s most prestigious school of medicine,” said Young. “I hope to guide the faculty as we continue to strengthen existing partnerships and forge new ones throughout the health care industry.”

Professor Young received his medical degree at the University of Manitoba and his PhD from the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. He completed his residency training at McGill University and the University of Toronto, and held a Research Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. He joined the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto in 1989, and returned as Chair in 2010, after holding academic appointments at McMaster University and the University of British Columbia.

Professor Young has extensive administrative experience in university and health care settings. Previous appointments include Physician-in-Chief and Executive Vice-President Programs at CAMH; Head, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia; and Vice-President (Medicine) for British Columbia Mental Health and Addiction Services, within the Provincial Health Services Authority. He has served as a member of hospital and university boards and committees and has a successful record of fundraising in the areas of mental health and psychiatry.