Professor (Dr.) Kwame McKenzie is CEO of Wellesley Institute, a full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and a practicing psychiatrist.
His expertise is the social causes of illness and the development of effective, equitable social policy and health services and systems.
As a leader, policy advisor, administrator, clinician, educator and academic with over 280 peer reviewed papers and six books, he has worked across a broad spectrum to improve mental health, population health and health services for three decades.
He is a member of Canada’s National Advisory Council on Poverty, Co-Chair of Ontario’s Black Health Plan and Chair of the Board of Community Food Centres Canada.
Professor McKenzie’s work has been recognized with numerous awards including the African Canadian Achievement Award for Science, the Dominican of Distinction Award, the Fred Fallis Award for Excellence in Online Education, the CAMH 150 Difference Makers in Mental Health award, the Harry Jerome Award, and the Champion of Human Services Award from the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association.
He has advised health ministers in the United Kingdom and Canada, housing, education and social services ministers in Canada, as well as the World Health Organization and the World Bank.
Professor McKenzie has completed numerous roles at the federal and provincial levels including a term as a Commissioner of Human Rights in Ontario and as Co-Chair of Canada’s Expert Task Force of Substance Use. He is a past President and Chair of the Board of CMHA Toronto and is a Member of the Executive and of the Council of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, U.K.
He has been a columnist for The Guardian and The Times-online, presented “All in the Mind” for BBC Radio 4, and writes op-eds for the Toronto Star.