Lakshmi N. Yatham, MBBS, FRCPC, MRCPsych (UK), is Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Head of Research and International Affairs in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. His major areas of research interest include neurobiology and treatment of bipolar disorder and major depression. Dr. Yatham was a recipient of the Michael Smith Foundation Senior Scholar Award, and his work has been funded by a number of peer-reviewed funding agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation, Stanley Foundation, and National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, USA. . Dr. Yatham leads a Canadian consortium on bipolar disorder, which is currently pursuing testing of new treatments for bipolar disorder using pragmatic and controlled trials with substantial funding from CIHR. 

Dr. Yatham co-led the development of Canadian guidelines for treatment of bipolar disorder in 1997 and his group recently revised the guidelines for 2005 and these were published with International Commentaries in Bipolar Disorders Journal in June. He is Chair of the bipolar group of the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT), and is actively involved at a national and international level in continuing medical education and public education on diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder for psychiatrists, family physicians, and the general public. Dr. Yatham is currently the President for the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and he is on the editorial boards of a number of journals including Bipolar Disorders, Brain Pharmacology, Human Psychopharmacology, Quarterly Journal of Mental Health etc. He has published over 140 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and presented his research work at numerous international conferences.