Congratulations to Professor John Cairney for winning the 2017 Alex Leighton Award in Psychiatric Epidemiology – created by the Canadian Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Academy of Psychiatric Epidemiology.
This award honours Professor Alex Leighton, a leader in Canadian psychiatric epidemiology, and is given to those who advance Canadian psychiatric epidemiology through innovative studies, methods, teaching and transfer of knowledge.
Cairney’s research focuses on the health consequences of poor motor coordination in children, physical activity and mental health epidemiology – a branch of medicine that deals with the incidence, distribution and possible control of mental disorders.
His accomplishments include developing a successful research program with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Research Council and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. He also held a Canada Research Chair in Psychiatry at the University of Toronto from 2002 to 2008 and a Research Chair at McMaster University from 2008 to 2016.
“Dr. Cairney is an internationally renowned leader in the field of mental health, and this award recognizes his impressive research accomplishments as well as highlights the growing recognition of physical activity research in the field of psychiatric epidemiology,” says Professor Ira Jacobs, dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at U of T. “His work is truly innovative, focusing on the intersections between physical and mental health using sophisticated, community and population approaches that engage children, families and communities locally and nationally.”
Cairney has more than 150 publications focusing on psychiatric epidemiology. In 2010, he co-edited the first Canadian textbook in psychiatric epidemiology, Mental Disorder in Canada: An Epidemiological Perspective.
The award will be presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Academy of Psychiatric Epidemiology in Ottawa on September 13, 2017.