Dr. Smith is Vice President of Research, Networks and Academic Development for BC Mental Health and Addiction Services and Head of the Addiction Psychiatry Division, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia. Previously the Vice-President of Clinical Programs at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Dr. Smith was responsible for the overall leadership and operations of all Addiction and Mental Health Programs across four hospitals. Over the past decade, he has focused on addictions and mental health services planning and development. He served on the Expert Advisory Panel for the development of the Health Canada Best Practice Guidelines for Concurrent Disorders. He has also focused on increasing the national profile of addictions with his involvement in the renewal of Canada's Drug Strategy and, more recently, as a founding member of the Canadian Executive Council on Addictions (CECA). Also at the national level and in support of Health Canada's National Framework for Action to Reduce the Harms Associated with Alcohol and Other Drugs and Substances in Canada, he is the co-chair of the National Treatment Strategy. In BC, Dr. Smith is leading the development of provincial specialized mental health & addictions networks to improve the accessibility, standardization, and quality of specialized services across BC. 

Dr. Smith has a PhD in Clinical Psychology and in this capacity has provided individual, group, and family therapy in the areas of substance abuse and mental health. His clinical research interests are in the areas of substance abuse, specifically alcohol and drug expectancies and adolescent substance abuse and mental health, eating disorders, smoking cessation, and cross cultural factors in substance abuse and mental health.


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