Candidate for 2026 Trustee-at-Large

Biography

Vincenzo Di Nicola is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist focusing on family psychotherapy, community child psychiatry, and collaborative care. With his interdisciplinary training, Dr. Di Nicola has created syntheses at the intersection of children, families, and culture, including transcultural child psychiatry, cultural family therapy, and clinical social psychiatry. His current focus is on trauma-informed care with immigrants and refugees.

Dr. Di Nicola’s training and contributions span psychology, psychopharmacology, psychiatric epidemiology, family psychotherapy, sociocultural psychiatry, and philosophy. He champions the integrative approach of the biopsychosocial model over “single-message mythologies” and sees the APA as a pluralistic “big tent” for all psychiatric practitioners, educators, and researchers.

Dr. Di Nicola is a Tenured Full Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Addictology, University of Montreal, where he co-founded and co-directs the postgraduate course in psychiatry and the humanities. He is also a Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health, The George Washington University; Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University; and Honorary Chair and Professor of Social Psychiatry, Milan School of Medicine, Ambrosiana University, Milan, Italy. In Canada, he has taught at five medical faculties in Ontario (Ottawa, Queen’s, McMaster) and Quebec (McGill, Montreal), and served as Professor and Chair, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Queen’s University in Kingston, ON, and Chief of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Montreal University Institute of Mental Health.

APA distinctions include: being twice Past President of the Quebec & Eastern Canada District Branch and Assembly Representative; Distinguished Life Fellow; Co-Founder and Past Chair, Caucus on Global Mental Health & Psychiatry; recipient of the Distinguished Service Award; and currently, Chair of the Council in International Psychiatry and Global Health. As an educator and consultant abroad, Dr. Di Nicola has worked in LMICs, including Brazil, Bulgaria, Haiti, Morocco, and Romania. Publications include: A Stranger in the Family: Culture, Families, and Therapy (1997), Letters to a Young Therapist (2011), Psychiatry in Crisis: At the Crossroads of Social Science, The Humanities, and Neuroscience (with D. Stoyanov, 2021), and his “Second Thoughts” column in Psychiatric Times. He is currently President, World Association of Social Psychiatry (2022-2025).

These professional commitments are embodied in Dr. Di Nicola’s family life and he is the proud parent of two adult children – Carlo, an international lawyer, and Nina, a pediatric Emergency Medicine Specialist who did a fellowship at UC-Davis on physician burnout. Vincenzo and his partner, Leticia, a Brazilian psychologist, have a young daughter Anita.

Education

• Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), First Class Honors in Psychology, McGill University (1973-1976)
• Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London (1976-1978)
• Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), McMaster University Medical School (1978-1981)
• Residency in Pediatrics, McGill University (1981-1983)
• Residency in Psychiatry, McGill University (1983-1986)
• Fellow in Family Therapy, Institute of Community & Family Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University (1984-1985)
• Chief Resident in Psychiatry, Allan Memorial Institute, McGill University (1985-1986)
• Diploma in Psychiatry (DipPsych), McGill University (1986)
• Clinical Fellowship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (Psychopharmacology), University of Ottawa (1986-1987)
• Fellow, Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC) (1986)
• Specialist Certificate, Quebec (CSPQ) (1988)
• Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (DABPN) (1991)
• Master’s Certificate, Global Mental Health, Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2008-2009)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Summa cum laude, “Trauma and Event,” European Graduate School, Division of Media & Communication (2009-2012)

Awards and Honors

High school:

• Special Studentship, Dept. of Philosophy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON (1972)
• Class Valedictorian, Ontario Scholar, Cathedral Boys’ HS, Hamilton, ON (1973)
• Distinguished Alumnus, Cathedral Boys’ HS, Hamilton, ON (2022)

University studies in psychology:

• BA, First Class Honours in Psychology; University Scholar, MH Beatty Scholar, Moyse Travelling Scholar in Scientific Subjects; McGill University, Montreal, QC (1973-1977)
• IODE Postgraduate Scholarship, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK (1977-78)

Medical scholarship:

• Scholarship for Research Elective, Mailman Research Center, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA (1980)

Psychiatry residency prizes:

• Inaugural Residents’ Research Prize, Canadian Psychiatric Association (1983)
• Saul Wilner Prize, Dept. of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC (1985)

Visiting professor:

• Dept. of Anthropology, Institute of the Family, Dept. of Psychiatry, & Institute of Psychology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil (1997)
• Child Psychiatry Clinic, University of Turku, Finland (2000)
• Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA (2012)
• Depts. of Child Psychiatry, Psychiatry, & Anthropology, University of Lisbon, Portugal (2012)
• Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé, Université Notre Dame d’Haïti, Port- au-Prince, Haïti (2015)
• Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv; Dept. of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry & Institute for Mental Health & Development, Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria (2017)
• Dept. of Psychiatry, University of California–Irvine, Irvine, CA (2018)
• Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice in Health & Social Care, St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, UK (2019)

Honorary professorships:

• Professor (Honoris Causa), FADOM (Faculties of Psychology and Law of West Minas), Divinópolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil (2001)
• Honorary Chair and Professor of Social Psychiatry, Milan School of Medicine, Ambrosiana University, Milan, Italy (2021)

Awards & prizes in psychiatry:

• Prize for Innovation & Leadership, Quebec Hospital Association (2004)
• Camille Laurin Prize, Quebec Psychiatric Association (2011)
• Assembly Resident-Fellow Mentor Award, American Psychiatric Association (2017)
• Jeanne Spurlock Lecture & Award for Diversity & Culture (Endowed Lecture), American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2018)
• Naomi Rae Grant Award, Canadian Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2021)
• Diploma of Excellence, Romanian Association of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Bucharest, Romania (2021)
• Creative Education in Cultural Psychiatry Award, World Association of Cultural Psychiatry (2022)
• Distinguished Service Award, American Psychiatric Association (2022)
• Leadership Award in Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry (Endowed Lecture), American College of Psychiatrists (2025)

Special invitations:

• Keynote Speaker, XI International Health Conference, The Vatican, Vatican City (1996)
• 4th Annual Stokes Endowment Lecturer, The George Washington University, Washington, DC (2013)
• Stanley and Miki Kaplan Endowed Lecture, Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH (2025)

Memberships & fellowships:

• Fellow, American Psychiatric Association (2011)
• Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association (2017)
• Member, American College of Psychiatrists (2017)
• International Distinguished Member (Academician), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences & Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria (2019)
• Honorary Fellow, World Association of Social Psychiatry (2019)
• Invited Founding Fellow, International College of Cultural Psychiatry (2020)
• Psychiatric Fellow, American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis (2020)
• Fellow, Canadian Psychiatric Association (2020)
• Honorary Member, Moroccan Association of Dynamic Psychiatry (2021)
• Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2021)
• Distinguished Life Fellow, American Psychiatric Association (2022)
• Distinguished Fellow, Canadian Psychiatric Association (2022)
• Honorary Member, Family Therapy Academy, Rome, Italy (2024)
• Fellow, American College of Psychiatrists (2025)
• Fellow, Royal Society of Canada (2025)