Harry Karlinsky
MD, MSc, FRCPC
Dr. Harry Karlinsky is a psychiatrist who integrates his medical expertise with literary creativity. A clinical professor within the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Karlinsky has published widely on topics from Alzheimer’s disease to the use of technology to the use of film in healthcare education.
He is the founding and ongoing director of the long running and award-winning Frames of Mind Mental Health Film Series in Vancouver, a monthly initiative presented by The Cinematheque and UBC that uses cinema to promote community education, challenge stigma, and foster discussion around mental health issues.
As a novelist, Dr. Karlinsky draws upon his psychiatric knowledge for rich storytelling. His first novel, The Evolution of Inanimate Objects, which explored the line between creativity and madness, was longlisted for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize. His second novel, The Stonehenge Letters, followed a retired psychiatrist investigating why Sigmund Freud never received a Nobel Prize. This unique blend of a medical career and literary work has earned him numerous awards including the
2024 Canadian Psychiatric Association Paul Patterson Innovation in Education Leadership Award
2023 Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada Academic Annual Award for Creative Professional Activity
Education
1980 Doctor of Medicine, University of Manitoba
1986 Fellow of the Royal College of the Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, University of Toronto
1991 MSc. in Neuroscience (Distinction). University of London, England
2009 Simon Fraser University Writer’s Studio