Welcome to the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. We are a large faculty of nearly 300 people spread across five different hospitals, five research institutes and individuals working in the community. The mandate of the Department is to advance the academic mission of the University of Ottawa with a focus on research and teaching. Because we are a large department, we have a range of research programs encompassing functional brain imaging, psychopharmacology, mortality in mood disorders, systematic review science, forensic psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry and trauma, suicide prevention and clinical trials in underserved populations. We provide a wide range of teaching at undergraduate and post graduate levels including our resident program, which with about 65 residents, is the third largest in the Faculty of Medicine.

As well as a focus on research and teaching because of our location in the nation’s capital we aim to be involved in policy making and being good at working with policy makers. We aim to improve our relationship with the indigenous people of the area and are developing actions and policies around this as well as equity, diversity and inclusiveness.

In many ways psychiatry is at a cross roads with one route reducing the speciality to a prescriber of a few psychotropic medications and giving up our roles in other areas such as psychotherapy or cognitive assessments;  on the other hand another route lies in being the specialty that integrates what we know about the impact of biology, psychology and social forces on feelings, behaviour and physiology and using this integrated knowledge for the benefit of patients who seek our help. New and critical thinking to address these challenges is welcomed and encouraged in our Department. Enjoy your time with us.

Dr. Simon Hatcher
Interim Chair Department of Psychiatry

2019 Awards and Recognitions

• Dr. Mamta Gautam
  2019 May Cohen Award for Women Mentors, Canadian Medical Association
• Dr. Sanjay Rao
  Fellow of the Canadian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies
• Dr. J. Paul Fedoroff
  Innovator of the Year, Ottawa Police Service’s 2018 Crime Prevention Ottawa Awards
• Dr. Katherine Allen
  Faculty of Medicine Educator Award for Collaborator Competency
• Dr. Wendy Spettigue
  2019 Prix d’Excellence – Specialist of the Year Award
• Dr. Khalid Bazaid
  Excellence in Education Award - CACAP
• Debbie Hall
  PGME Program Administrator Award of Excellence
  PGME Program Administrator's Leader Competency Award