Stanley Kutcher

Stanley Paul Kutcher (born 1951) is a Canadian psychiatrist and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University who served as a senator from Nova Scotia from 2018 to 2026.

Before his appointment, Dr. Kutcher was Department Head of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University, as well as Associate Dean of International Health, and where he held the Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health. He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and a Distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association. He was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia in 2014.

Early life and education Kutcher is a first generation Canadian born to Ukrainian refugees; his parents survived World War II and made a new life for themselves and their families in Canada. As a young person, he worked with youth living in financially challenged circumstances in Hamilton, Ontario and with incarcerated young people in Ontario's juvenile justice system and as a labourer-teacher with Frontier College. His postgraduate training in psychiatry was at the University of Toronto and he completed a McLaughlin Fellowship at the Medical Research Council Brain Metabolism Unit in Edinburgh.

As a professor of psychiatry at Dalhousie University, he helped establish the Brain Repair Centre and the Life Sciences Development Association. He was Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Mental Health Policy and Training and participated in numerous mental health initiatives led by the Pan American Health Organization, including mental health training, policy development and post-disaster mental health interventions. He led the development and deployment of novel mental health competency training programs in Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America. Some of his clinical tools, such as the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale have been validated and translated into numerous languages. Kutcher's academic portfolio includes over 400 published papers and numerous books on topics ranging from psychopharmacology to suicide prevention, adolescent brain development and Global School Mental Health. He has taught and mentored hundreds of medical students as well as individuals pursuing Masters and PhD degrees, in and outside of Canada. Study 329 became controversial when it was discovered that the article had been ghostwritten by a PR firm hired by SmithKline Beecham, had made inappropriate claims about the drug's efficacy, and had downplayed safety concerns.

Political career During the 2011 Canadian federal election, Stan Kutcher was a candidate for the Liberal Party in the Halifax electoral district .

Stan Kutcher was appointed to the Senate of Canada on 12 December 2018.

Awards and distinctions

Electoral record

Selected books Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. W.B. Saunders. Philadelphia, USA. (1997) Practical Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Uk. (2002) Suicide Risk Management: A Manual for Health Professionals. Second Edition. Wiley-Blackwell, UK. (2012) Adolescent Brain Development. Colloquium Series on the Developing Brain. (2014) School Mental Health: Global Challenges and Opportunities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York. (2015)

Notes and references