Areas of interest

Clinical psychology, substance use & mental health, primary health care reform, homelessness

Education

• BA, Psychology, Simon Fraser University
• MSc, Clinical Psychology, University of Washington
• PhD, Clinical Psychology, University of Washington

Biography

Dr. Julian M Somers completed clinical training at the University of Washington, Seattle’s Harbourview Hospital, and British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital. He was Director of the UBC Psychology Clinic, President of the BC Psychological Association, and founding Director of the Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction. He began his academic career in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, and is currently Full Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Somers works to improve clinical practices and public policies related to addiction and mental health. The Somers Research Group is internationally recognized for initiatives involving large-scale randomized trials, multi-site interventions, and population-level studies described in over 150 publications. Dr. Somers has also created advanced information systems for public health surveillance and to evaluate the effectiveness of policies and services.

Members of the Somers Research Group have earned local, national, and international awards for research in the public interest. In 2018 Dr. Somers received SFU’s award for Excellence in Supervision in engineering, medical and natural sciences.