Scientific Directors

Scientific Director, BCMHARI

William Honer, MD, FRCP
Jack Bell Chair in Schizophrenia
Centre for Complex Disorders, BCMHARI
Professor, Psychiatry
University of British Columbia

Dr. Bill Honer’s primary area of interest is the neurobiology and mechanisms of illness in schizophrenia. Dr. Honer trained in medicine at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and received his MD in 1984. Following a year of internal medicine training at Vancouver General Hospital, he was a resident in psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute / Columbia University for three years. During the final year of his residency program, and for the next three years, Dr. Honer was a research fellow at Columbia University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he was a member of Dr. Peter Davies' neuropathology research group. Dr. Honer moved to Vancouver in 1991.

In addition to his extensive contributions on the etiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia, he has studied brain structure and treatment response in first-episode and treatment refractory patients.

Dr. Honer received a Scientist Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and has received both the Young Investigator Award (1997) and the Heinz Lehmann Award (2008) from the Canadian College of Neuropsycho-pharmacology. He is the author of 196 peer-reviewed publications and has authored the assessment section of the Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines for Schizophrenia.

Scientific Director, Child & Adolescent Mental Health

Jana Davidson, MD, FRCP
Medical Director, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Programs, BC Children’s Hospital
Program Head, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry
University of British Columbia

Dr. Jana Davidson is a child psychiatrist actively involved in clinical care, education and research. Dr. Davidson completed her medical training and psychiatric residency at the University of British Columbia. Following her residency, she completed a Fellowship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at BC Children’s Hospital and the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre in Melbourne, Australia.

Dr. Davidson’s research is currently focused on the metabolic effects of second generation antipsychotics on children and youth, which she conducts in collaboration with Dr. Dina Panagiotopoulos, a Pediatric Endocrinologist at BC Children’s Hospital.

A respected mentor and teacher, Dr. Davidson is the recipient of the UBC Psychiatry Residency Postgraduate Teaching Award (2001) and the UBC Psychiatry Undergraduate Teaching Award (2004). She is a Founding Director of the National Institute of Families for Child and Youth Mental Health.

Scientific Director, Forensic Psychiatric Services

Johann Brink, MB, ChB, FRCP
Vice President, Medical Affairs and Research, Forensic Psychiatric Services
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry
University of British Columbia

Dr. Johann Brink is the Vice President, Medical Affairs and Research for Forensic Psychiatric Services (FPS) in British Columbia. Dr. Brink is a psychiatrist and a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC, where he co-directs the fellowship program in Forensic Psychiatry. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Brink completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training in psychiatry in South Africa, before moving to Canada in 1992. He was the Clinical Director of a federal forensic psychiatric hospital in BC before joining FPSC in 2002. Dr. Brink has authored and co-authored papers on forensic psychiatric epidemiology, neuroimaging and electrophysiological aspects of psychopathy, and violence risk-related issues, including START (Short Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability). He is a co-author of the START Manual, and is actively engaged in knowledge translation initiatives on violence prevention locally, nationally and internationally.

Current research projects include an examination of resilience in forensic psychiatric populations, the nature of interaction between police and persons with severe mental illness, signature risk markers in forensic patients, the legal and practical aspects of Canada’s Long Term Offender legislation, and an ongoing program of research in the validation and implementation of START.